One orthodontist has put smiles on the faces of thousands of students through a scholarship program he created with the San Mateo-Foster City School District and he does it to encourage students to perform better in school.
In the late ’60s, Dr. Al Landucci, now a retired orthodontist, joined the San Mateo Elks Lodge where he met Chuck Pierce, a principal for a San Mateo school. Pierce offered to share his locker with Landucci, since there were none available, but under the stipulation that Landucci sponsor the school’s sports award ceremony because the school didn’t have money for trophies, he said
The favor turned into a near lifetime of dedication toward academia for Landucci.
“I said, I’d do it but only if I could also start a scholarship for students excelling in academics and active in community service,” Landucci said.
More than 50 years later, the foundation annually awards hundreds of students, who excel in math, science, literacy and community service. The scholarships range from $50 to $125 and they are used to motivate the students and to get them excited about school, said Suzi Riley, San Mateo-Foster City School District coordinator of Student Services.
Last week, the foundation hosted an award ceremony in San Mateo for the classes of 2020 to 2023, since many of them were not able to graduate in person, Riley added.
“He is very dedicated to the students, a wonderful philanthropist and he is very committed to San Mateo and Foster City,” Riley said.
However, Landucci believed priorities were backward for awards and scholarships. He first noticed it as a kid while on a championship football team. There was a big celebration with recognition and awards and to him it felt like there should be more recognition for being a good student and a community-oriented person, he said.
‘It just seemed like our priorities were wrong. All the attention went toward sports, but I thought that wasn’t right, it’s more important to be involved in the community and to be a good student,” Landucci said.
In total, since he first started the foundation in the late-’60s, he’s donated millions of dollars to the school district and multiple Bay Area colleges.
“I feel that to get ahead in life, you need a great education and people should work hard to achieve that. And a lot of parents tell me that it motivates their kids to do better because they want to get the scholarship and that’s the goal of it all,” Landucci said.
The scholarships are primarily for graduating fifth grade and eighth grade students.
“The scholarships go toward the best students in academics and those who contributed the most to the community,” Landucci said.
The program is nice, Riley said, because the school staff chooses the students. Landucci, who is now 80 years old, comes to almost all the graduations and presents the awards himself, she added.
“If you have a good education, you have a much better chance of doing better in this world, I feel, and contributing more to society,” Landucci said.
