About Us

About The

Lopez Island Community
Scholarship Foundation

Lopez Island Community Scholarship Foundation (LICSF) is a 100% volunteer run 501(c)(3) nonprofit. That means 100% of your donation goes directly to student scholars who are residents of Lopez, Decatur, and Center Islands.

Our mission is to invest in and guide student post-secondary career success by providing continuing scholarships (from one to five years, depending on the program of study or training), by matching each student with a community advocate to mentor and respond to each student’s needs, and by maintaining relationships between the student, the organization, and the community.

We encourage all students to apply, those who are considering four-year colleges as well as those who are considering CTE degrees, vocational or artistic schooling.

Submit Application
Before April 27, 2026!

Our Board

Meet the People Behind the Support

LICSF is guided by a volunteer board of community members committed to educational access, mentorship, and long-term student success. Together, they help ensure this work remains thoughtful, transparent, and rooted in island values.

Stephen Adams

President

Steve and his wife, Laura moved to Lopez Island in 1980. They hand built their home and raised their two girls, Serina and Ariella, on Lopez. Steve taught and coached track at Lopez Island School for 30 years, retiring in 2010. During his teaching, he developed and taught an early integrated science and technology program. He is a past Fire and Planning Commissioner and is currently a Port of Lopez Commissioner.

Mary Bywater Cross

Vice President

A native Iowan, Mary moved to Portland, OR in 1970. Purchasing her Lopez home in 2008, she moved here permanently in April 2020. As a community volunteer, she served on educational grant funding committees for her community, church, academic and national organizations. She currently serves on the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Foundation Board of Trustees as chair of the Travel Grant Review Committee. On Lopez, Mary volunteers at the Lopez Library and cashiers at the Lopez Thrift Shop. She is a quilt historian and quilt designer and member of the Lopez Island Artists Guild.

Peter Stamats

Secretary

Peter is president and CEO of Stamats Communications, Inc. His family’s business has provided consulting and marketing services to colleges and universities nationwide for over 30 years. He completed his undergraduate and graduate education at Stanford University in 1983. Peter, and his wife Karen are currently part-time residents of Lopez Island following 25 years of vacationing on Lopez. They look forward to increasing community involvement on Lopez. In his free time, Peter is an avid cyclist, beekeeper and photographer.

Linda Floodeen

Treasurer

Linda Floodeen worked in school district accounting for many years, and she continues to maintain a small accounting business from home. She is a former board member of Lopez Island Dollars for Scholars, where she served as treasurer. Linda has often provided financial services to nonprofit groups as a volunteer.

Shel Haber

Board Member

Shel has spent his career in educational and nonprofit leadership. He taught high school and community college before serving as Finance Director for Seattle Opera and later as Vice President for Administration and Finance at Bastyr University. Throughout his career, Shel has been deeply committed to mentoring students as they navigate post-secondary education, with a continued focus on supporting underserved populations. He has extensive experience working with boards, municipalities, and bond authorities, including campus planning and higher education facility financing. A Lopez Island resident since 2000, Shel is proud to support the Lopez Island Community Education Scholarship Foundation and the island community he calls home.

Debby Hatch

Board Member

Debby Hatch has lived on Lopez since 1994 when she and her husband Scott finished building their house. She taught in the UW English Department and consulted with the UW Center for Instructional Development and Research from 1979 to 2005 when she took early retirement. One of her on-going interests at UW was helping students discover strategies for learning at the college level. On Lopez, she wrote the monthly Green Living Column for the Islands Weekly from 2006-2011 and her blog Lopez Island Kitchen Gardens from 2011 to present.

Claudia Rempel

Board Member

Claudia and her husband Jeremy, moved to Lopez in the Summer 2015 from Southern California. Soon after, she began work at the Lopez Island Library as their Office Manager. As a parent to two young children, she quickly became involved in many aspects of Island life. She has formerly worked on the boards of the Lopez Island Family Resource Center and Lopez Island PTSA. In her spare time, Claudia is a reader and quilter.

Gretchen Wing

Board Member

A native North Carolinian, Gretchen moved to Tacoma with her husband Ken in 1990, to start a family as Northwesterners. After their two sons left the nest in 2010, they became full-time Lopezians, and Gretchen left her career as a high school English and History teacher to became a baker at Holly B’s, and a novelist and songwriter. She is a Mentor with the Family Resource Center, and served previously on the board of the Lopez Island Conservation Corps. She can be found road-tripping, hiking and camping with Ken; cooking and eating; and singing and playing guitar with friends.

Tom Cowan

Board Member

Tom, his wife Tammy, and their two young sons moved to Lopez Island in 1974, where both boys spent their entire K-12 education at Lopez School before going off to college. Tom is a former San Juan County Commissioner, and he and Tammy owned Sunset Builders Supply for many years. He is a member of the San Juan Preservation Trust Board of Directors and has been active in organizing community scholarships for Lopez High School graduates for over 25 years.

Cyndi Smith

Board Member

Cyndi and her husband, Ron, moved to Lopez in 2019 and have four children. Prior to retirement, Cyndi worked as a program manager in the aerospace industry. On Lopez, Cyndi enjoys native plant gardening and meadow restoration work.

Hilary Seglin

Board Member

Hilary is one of the partners at Lopez Bookshop where she continues to explore her life-long passion for language and for the connections books foster among people. She is retired from a career as a physician/scientist. She practiced clinically and conducted research in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the UW and then moved to the Gates Foundation where she focused on improving maternal/child health globally. She continues to participate in related research efforts and believes passionately in empowering young people to pursue their dreams. Hilary has lived on Lopez full time since 2020; she is a mother of four children and recently became a grandmother.

Rip Van Camp

Board Member Emeritus

Robert “Rip” Van Camp has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in business management and consulting for both corporations and non-profits. Rip’s passion has focused on three Lopez community services categories: helping students find success in higher education by serving on the board of the local scholarship foundation, overall community support in the development of our Community Center, and helping solve the affordable housing issue as a founder of LOHO that developed The Hamlet. Rip’s business and governance experience includes positions on two graduate schools including chairman of the Wake Forrest School of Management. He has also served on the boards of the YMCA of Winston Salem, N.C.

Ready to Make a Difference?

Every scholarship begins with someone who believes in the collective potiential of our community.

Help us keep higher education accessible for island learners.