Members of the Rotary Club of Belleville presented six $5,000 scholarships to Belleville-area graduates during the 78th Annual Scholarship Program May 23.
The awards presentation took place at Belleville High School and included school administrators, parents, family members and Rotarians.
The four Academic Scholarships went to Hope Copeland, Samantha Pause, Krishna Sharma and Sean Tinsley. The Charles B. Cozadd Community Service Award for service to school and other students was presented to Luke Budd while the Donald Juchartz Award for Community Service was presented to Ethan Delaney.
During the meeting, Belleville Rotary Club President Mary Jo Suchy offered a welcome, including an explanation of what Rotary is and a summary of club activities helping individual citizens, communities and other charities in carrying on their work.
Each of the awardees thanked Rotary and spoke about his or her plans going forward and how the scholarships will assist in reaching academic goals.
Van Buren Township Clerk Leon Wright was the guest speaker during the award presentation. He offered words of inspiration to the awardees and discussed the importance of civic engagement as the students move forward in their lives and careers.
“The Rotary is happy to celebrate these amazing young individuals, who have all contributed so well to their communities, their school and their families,” Suchy said.
After the presentations, Suchy, who is also the chairperson of the Scholarship Committee, thanked all the attendees, the scholarship committee, and any others whose work made the evening possible.
Since its inception, Rotary Club of Belleville has awarded $642,500 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 many projects.
