A scene from the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee (JROMC) annual banquet that included scholarship recipients, donors, a lecturer and members of the committee, Sunday evening at Pig+Fig Cafe in White Rock. Scholarship recipients included, Santa Fe Indian School graduate Raeann Chavez, Capital High School graduate Emily Trevizo, Española Valley High School graduate Kiara Salinas Ontiveros, Santa Fe High School graduate Paige Tomkins, Capital High School graduate Mariah Sofia Chavez, Capital High School graduate Osmel Pacheco, Los Alamos High School graduate Matthea Fung, Capital High School graduate Abraham Duran Carrillo, Los Alamos High School graduate Madalyn Baily, Los Alamos High School graduate Alyssa Sun, Los Alamos High School graduate Cara Gauss, Los Alamos High School graduate August Ovaska, Los Alamos High School graduate James Hiroaki Ito, Los Alamos High School graduate John Kang, Los Alamos High School graduate Helena Welch, Los Alamos High School graduate Sara Khan and Santa Fe Indian School graduate Kyla Janae Trujillo. In total the committee awarded 24 scholarships to students across Northern New Mexico, totaling approximately $72,000. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

Capital High School graduates Abraham Duran Carrillo and Emily Trevizo are among the JROMC scholarship recipients honored at the annual banquet Sunday evening at the Pig+Fig Cafe. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

From left, Los Alamos County Manager Anne Laurent, JROMC scholarship recipient and LAHS graduate John Kang and Dr. Dante Lauretta at the JROMC Banquet Sunday evening at the Pig+Fig Cafe. Lauretta will be the  committee’s guest speaker for its annual lecture at 7 p.m. today, June 22 at Duane Smith Auditorium. Lauretta’s talk is titled, ‘Origins of Our Solar System: The NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission’. The lecture is free and open to everyone. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

From left, Capital High School graduate and JROMC scholarship recipient Mariah Sofia Chavez, JROMC member Kate Crombie and Capital High School graduate and JROMC scholarship recipient Osmel Pacheco at Sunday’s banquet. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

From left, JROMC scholarship recipients and Los Alamos High School graduates Matthea Fung, Alyssa Sun, Helena Welch and Madalyn Baily at Sunday’s banquet. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

From left, JROMC member Martha Hawkins, Los Alamos High School graduates and JROMC scholarship recipients August Ovaska and James Hiroaki Ito, and JROMC member Wendee Burnish at the banquet Sunday. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

JROMC Chair Anna Llobet Megias recognizes the scholarship recipients and explained that the scholarships are awarded based on merit, taking into consideration a broad range of achievements in science, mathematics, the arts and humanities. ‘To our scholarship recipients, thanks to the generosity of many donors of Los Alamos, New Mexico and beyond, you have been recognized for your achievements and are being honored tonight for those. The donors believe in your future and share … a commitment for fostering excellence and service,’ Llobet Megias said, adding that the number of scholarships and the region in which they are awarded have grown since the scholarships were first awarded in 1984. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com