West Valley, Red Bluff seniors win 2025-26 Scholar-Athlete awards

High school seniors Mahayla Guevarra of West Valley and Bryce Owens of Red Bluff have been selected as the 2025-26 Record Searchlight-Redding Rotary-Seamans Family Foundation Scholar-Athlete winners.

The winners were announced during a Thursday, May 7 luncheon at Riverview Golf & Country Club in Redding. The prestigious award has been handed out since 1983.

A panel of judges from the Record Searchlight, Rotary Club and the Seamans Family Foundation received a total of 36 applications — from 16 girls and 20 boys — and narrowed the field down to the dozen finalists.

Guevarra and Owens each received $2,500 scholarships from the Seamans Family Foundation. The finalists each received $1,800 scholarships.

Last year’s winners were Bria Tate of Shasta High School and Brooks Andrus of Mount Shasta High School.

Judging was based on the students’ academic performance, athletic achievements and extracurricular activities, such as leadership roles and community service.

In addition to Guevarra and Owens, 10 other finalists were celebrated Thursday at the luncheon.

Audrey Berg and Samantha Johnson, both from U-Prep, Brooklyn Bivins of Weed, Tea Kaizen of Central Valley and Renna Shriner of Anderson were the girls finalists. Carson Anderson of Foothill, Garrett Buker of Yreka, Noah Gaddy of U-Prep, Jett Marshall of Weed and Dylan Taylor of Shasta were the boys finalists.

About Mahayla Guevarra

Guevarra’s sports are volleyball (first team all-section libero, all-league award, co-league champion) and track.

She carries a 4.43 weighted GPA and is looking at UC Davis, UC Merced and UC San Diego to pursue biochemistry.

She’s a Shasta College Honors Society member along with a National Honors Society Member. She’s been a Mercy Medical Center volunteer and a counselor for Shasta Youth Leadership Camp and Youth Volleyball Camp.

She’s been recognized with the West Valley Early College High School Perfect Attendance Award.

"This honor means to me that all the hard work and sacrifice that I've made have been recognized. All the other girls up there were more than qualified and they all deserved it, too. But I think that I was grateful that I got recognized because I've had to give up a lot throughout the years, on top of having to be a captain for sports. ... I've put myself out there and I'm glad that it worked and I had the opportunity and experience of being on a team with girls who I consider my family," Guevarra said after winning the award.