By Special to the Town Crier

John F. Kennedy University honored Julie Packard, executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and trustee of the Packard Foundation, for her community service at the Jacqueline Kennedy Awards Dinner Sunday at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose.

Proceeds from this event contributed to scholarships for women students at JFK University, with priority for women at the Campbell campus.

Packard, a native of Los Altos Hills, helped found the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the nation’s first major public aquarium dedicated to a single region - Monterey Bay.

The aquarium is a popular destination for Peninsula residents and has hosted more than 3 million visitors since its opening in 1984.

Packard, following a lifelong passion for conservation, chairs the Packard Foundation Conservation Program Committee, which currently oversees the largest environmental grant-making program in the nation.

She also serves on a number of organizations dedicated to protection of the world’s ecosystems.

The university also recognized the contributions of Laura Arrillaga, director of the Arrillaga Foundation, a non-profit organization working to improve educational opportunities and the quality of life in the Bay Area; Dolores Santa Cruz, a prime leader in developing the Mayfair Improvement Initiative; and Kelsey Wirth, co-founder and president of Align Technology, which applies 3-D computer imaging to the field of orthodontics.