February 27, 2023 – Hartford, Wi – The Hartford Rotary Club and Hartford Union High School are pleased to announce that Gabriela Almeda and Garrett McFarren were honored recently as Rotary Students of the Month. The students were given special recognition for their accomplishments at the Hartford Rotary Club’s Thursday noon meetings during the month of February.
Gabriela Almeda is the daughter of Erica and Ricardo Almeda. Almeda is a member of the H-Club, Student Council and served as student manager of the Girls’ Volleyball team at HUHS. She has a strong passion to help people in any way that she can.
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Almeda loves to go to sporting events at school to support her fellow classmates.
Through H-Club, Almeda has given back to the community by volunteering her time helping out at the concession stand for most of the home football games, collecting toys for the annual toy drive, ringing bells for the Salvation Army, and participating in the Support the Troops drive. Through Student Council, she has had the opportunity to help out at local nursing homes and at Fiesta Latina which is coming up this May. Over the last couple of years, Almeda has been volunteering for Casa Guadalupe helping the Hispanic youth with their schoolwork.
Almeda’s favorite class at HUHS is Spanish. After graduation, she wants to go to college to get a degree in Criminal Justice and a Minor in Spanish. Eventually, Almeda would like to go to law school to become a criminal or immigration lawyer.
Garrett McFarren is the son of Sharon and Scott McFarren. McFarren is a member of the Aviation Club, the Environmental Club, and the National Honor Society at HUHS. He has earned a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo. McFarren was selected as one of ten thousand applicants for the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship through the World Food Prize. He acted as a TA under Professor Ana Tamayo at EARTH University in San José, Costa Rica. Through the World Food Prize, McFarren has been named a Borlaug Scholar as well as a Global Youth Institute delegate.
McFarren enjoys learning different languages and learning how to share different cultures. At this time, he speaks English, and Spanish and is learning Catalán. He plans on learning Portuguese, French, and Arabic in the future.
McFarren coach’s kids between ages 3 and 14 in taekwondo at Surge Martial. He enjoys tutoring students in Spanish and AP government and volunteering his time at Horicon Marsh.
After graduation from HUHS, McFarren plans to attend Arizona State University to study Astrobiology and Biogeosciences. During his second year, he would like to study abroad through Arizona State University’s exchange program at the University of Alicante in Alicante, Spain.
