Lewes-Rehoboth Rotary awards annual scholarships
The Lewes-Rehoboth Beach Rotary Club awarded its five annual scholarships in May and June during ceremonies at Cape Henlopen High School, the Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing and a club meeting.
The Dr. William Peterson Memorial Scholarship honors a longtime member of the Lewes-Rehoboth Rotary, a Navy veteran and local dentist. The scholarship was established as part of Peterson’s will, leaving an endowment that provides, for 10 years, a $1,000 scholarship each year to a deserving, service-minded senior class JROTC cadet/student at Cape Henlopen High School. The adult leadership of the JROTC program selects and recommends the student for recognition. The scholarship this year was awarded to Diego Reyna, who was recommended by Col. Ronald Erale, longtime leader of the Cape JROTC chapter. Reyna had accumulated more than 105 hours of community service credit during his senior year, and participated in the placement and removal of the club's memorial flags on Veterans Day for the past four years.
The four other awards are part of the Eschenbach, Moore and Gallery memorial scholarships, which were established in honor of the three former Lewes-Rehoboth Rotary Club members, with the first scholarships being awarded in the late 1990s. One of the scholarships is for a graduating high school senior, and the other three are for nursing students who have completed their first year at the Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing.
The high school senior award is a four-year, $4,000 college scholarship for a college-bound student, awarded in increments of $1,000 each year. The student should be majoring in arts, science, engineering, health services or other avenues of higher education and maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA. Those seeking this award must submit an application that includes an essay, a project in their field of study and two teacher recommendations. The applications are reviewed by the scholarship committee of the Rotary club for determination of the award. This year's scholarship was awarded to Anna Fantoni, who graduated with a 3.9 GPA and superior teacher evaluations. Her essay and project revolved around her passion for the environment, which included her work at Cape Henlopen State Park helping remove the invasive Japanese black pine trees so native species could grow and thrive. The removal process is very labor intensive since many of these trees were planted by the U.S. Army during World War II. Fantoni will be continuing her education at the University of Vermont majoring in forestry.
The scholarships for nursing students are awarded to the three with the highest GPAs at the end of their first year at the Margaret Rollins School of Nursing. The nursing school is the only community hospital-based program in the state and provides a very comprehensive and challenging program with hands-on clinical experiences, simulation labs and state-of-the art classrooms. Recipients are Gracie Brewster, Emily Rudis and Alexis Porohnavi.
