The 75th Annual Scholarship Program of the Rotary Club of Belleville took a step into the future with an electronic presentation recently.
The Zoom presentation of three $5,000 scholarships May 19 was necessitated by the current coronoavirus pandemic stay at home executive order of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Belleville area resident graduates Collin Patrick Attard and Haley Raw Bellingham were each awarded an academic scholarship and Joseph Randall Budd received the community service scholarship from the Rotary Club members.
Belleville Rotary Club President Rachel Kozlowski offered welcoming remarks followed by 34th District Court Judge David Parrott's introduction of keynote speaker Mike Kole, chairman of the Kole Performance Group, and interim director of the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as professor of leadership at Northwood University.
Kole's presentation, directed primarily at the student awardees, described historical challenges in previous generations that were often met and solved by dreamers - men and women - who pursued their challenges with persistence and overcame the roadblocks were in their way. He suggested everyone should find their dream and then explained that whatever a person's dream might be - even if it is unclear how it can be realized, it should be pursued. It will be through persistent process that our current generation of dreamers will recognize and resolve the issues that face them and us, he told the Zoom meeting club members.
Following Kole's address, the scholarship presentations were made by members of the Belleville club scholarship committee, Glenn Silvenis, Parrott, and Kozlowski presenting the final award. Each of the winners thanked the Rotary club members and spoke about their plans going forward and how the scholarships will assist them in reaching academic goals.
Following the presentations, Kozlowski thanked all the virtual attendees, the scholarship committee and any others whose work made the evening possible.
The Rotary Club of Belleville has now awarded $567,500 to Belleville High School students as part of the club scholarship program. This year, as in recent years, the primary funding source for the program has been the Charles B. Cozadd Rotary Foundation which assists the club in the funding or partial funding of many projects.
