Courtesy Catholic Community Foundation
The Catholic Community Foundation awarded 17 local Catholic students with scholarships to be used toward tuition at a Catholic high school in the diocese. The winners — (left to right) Joseph Kimbuende, Bailey Murray, Jeremy Smith, Caty Kuzma, Teddy Enright, Victor Ribakare, Jackie Frere, Alex Valles, Mary Kate Wahlers, David Gesicki, Maggie Wyse, Timmy Shimon, Shane Cahill, Matthew Tucker, Susan Hidalgo, Jennifer Vidales, Brooke Kramer — appear here with Donna Marino, president and CEO of the foundation, and Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted.
Catholic Community Foundation recognizes 'amazing' students
By J.D. Long-García | March 19, 2009 | The Catholic Sun
The Catholic Community Foundation awarded 17 local eighth-grade students for their Christian service March 4 at the Diocesan Pastoral Center.
Thanks to the foundation, each student will have an $8,000 scholarship to any of the Catholic high schools in the diocese — $2,000 a year for four years. Donors who have established a perpetual fund with the foundation provide the scholarships.
“These kids are so amazing,” said Donna Marino, president and CEO of the Catholic Community Foundation.
“We really think we are developing the future leaders of our Church right here,” she added.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, who blessed the award winners’ St. Katharine Drexel medals, led the opening prayer and posed for photos with the students.
“You make all of us extremely proud of your dedication to service among the poor and needy members of our community,” he said. “I encourage you to continue to do the work that Jesus calls us to do and may you be most successful in your studies.”
This was the ninth year the Catholic Community Foundation granted the Christian Service Awards. When the awards began in 2001, the foundation honored eight students.
Since that time, the foundation has presented more than 80 students with awards — totaling almost $800,000 in scholarships. Nearly 100 students applied for the scholarships. The foundation’s awards committee interviewed each of the winners.
To qualify for the scholarship, students must be practicing Catholics, registered in the Diocese of Phoenix and planning on attending a local Catholic high school. The committee looks for students who exemplify Christ-centered behavior in their service to the community.
Letters of recommendation from pastors, teachers or principals as well as community service supervisors were submitted along with an essay written by the applicant.
During the award ceremony, Marino read passages from the letters of recommendations. Some of the students, touched by the kind words in the letters, cried. Family and friends in the audience cried too.
This year’s winners wrote 500-word essays explaining the miracle of the loaves and the fishes and how that Gospel passage affects their lives.
Before the awards presentation, Franchesca Nuñez, a past recipient of the award, described how attending Bourgade Catholic High School has helped her grow closer to God through service to others.
“My school has taught me to make service a bigger part of my daily life,” she said. “It has helped me to remember to not always focus on just my needs, but to assist others and focus on their needs as well.”
