Catholic Community Foundation awards young students high school scholarships

By Sylvia L. White
The Catholic Sun

The Catholic Community Foundation recognized 13 eighth graders with high school scholarships at the sixth annual Christian Service Awards April 4.

The foundation awarded $8,000 to each student to be used toward tuition at the recipients’ Catholic high school of choice.

Non-family members nominated the recipients for their service to others in school, parish and community. The students then filled out an application that included three letters of reference and an essay on a verse from the First Letter of Peter: “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said that the recipients not only have heads ready to help, but also have “hearts ready to serve.”

The awards recognize students for their service and encourage them to continue serving others in high school and beyond, he said.

Bill Marcotte, director of the diocesan Youth and Young Adult Ministry Office, said the recipients truly embody Christian service.

“The truth is that you have what it takes to make a difference,” Marcotte said, encouraging the recipients to continue serving. He also quoted the late Pope John Paul II, reminding the students that “Christ needs you to enlighten the world and to show it the path to life. Place your intelligence, your talents, your enthusiasm, your compassion and your fortitude at the service of life.”

Hilary Montana of Christ the King Elementary School received the John and Edie Reyno Award.

“Christian service is not about winning scholarships or earning scout badges or meeting school requirements. It is not about being a hero who swoops in and does a huge favor for some poor soul who is less than me,” Montana wrote in her essay.

“It is about knowing how I have been blessed in my life, and wanting to share my blessings with someone who I know is my equal,” she added, “someone who, just like me, is one of God’s children.”

The Catholic Community Foundation was founded in 1983 to help facilitate giving through estate planning and individual donations. The foundation helps parishes, schools and programs serve their populations.