Scholarships
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2024 Weston Scholarship Celebration Dinner
Representatives from all three organizations participated in the event hosted by Rotary at the Weston Golf Club. Guests from the WCL included Leslie Stonestreet, MaryAnn Riordan, Katie Phaneuf, Joan Heilbronner, and Karin Ott. Guests from the Weston Boosters included Melissa Galton and Jennifer Betty.
Our Club honored seven high school seniors this year. The increased number of awards was made possible because of President Katya Portnaya’s efforts to increase our scholarship funding for this year. Her initiative allowed us to support more scholarship awards for 2024.
As a Community service-focused organization, the Rotary Club looks for high school seniors who have demonstrated leadership, community service, and a drive for success. All seven of our recipients for 2024 are excellent examples of the Rotary motto: “Service above Self.”
This year’s winners of the Rotary Club’s Hector J. Osmond Memorial scholarship were:
Mathew B
Caleb G
Darrell J
Amani M
Raymond R
Ava T
Eliana T
Congratulations to each of these amazing students, and we wish them luck as they venture out into this next phase of their lives.
A special thank you to all the Rotarians whose hard work all year provided us with the funds needed to offer these scholarships. And we must all offer grateful thanks to our hospitality team and Jan Luchetti for making our celebration possible.
2023 Scholarship Celebration Dinner
2022 Scholarship Celebration Dinner
On Thursday, June 16th, we had a grand celebration with more than 40 Rotarians, guests, and award winners in attendance. We celebrated our final 2022 RYLA recipient, Katya Marchant; 3 exchange students that we are sponsoring to travel to Spain this summer: Katie Gaw, Owen Moon, and Alex Giodorno; and 7 of the 11 scholarship award winners from Weston & Wayland high schools that received scholarships from the Rotary Club of Weston & Wayland, The Women's Community League, and Weston Boosters.
Thank you to our Scholarship Committee: Rob, Janika, Jan, Edwin, Marilyn, John, Marla, Vera, and Bruce. They organized the applications, reviewed, interviewed, and collaborated with the other Weston organizations to choose the scholarship recipients in Weston. Also, thank you to Cindi Bryant, who represents RCWW for the Wayland Scholarship Committee, for her many years of service.
2018 Weston Scholarship Celebration Dinner
The Weston Women's Community League, Weston Boosters, and Rotary Club recognized Andrew Daphnis, Sophia Gilbert, Garrett Lualdi, Connor McCoy, John McMann, Nick Steedle, and Taniya Williams for their scholarship, commitments to community service, athleticism and leadership. Marla Schay, Eunice Feller and Anthony Parker all from Weston High School were special guests.
Andrew Daphnis received scholarship support from the Rotary Club. Andrew volunteered in the Dominican Republic to serve a rural youth literacy program in Monte Christi and attended a selective pre-college leadership institute at Brown University where his most rewarding course was “Leading with Empathy.” On the diamond, Andrew was a starting pitcher and captain of the varsity baseball team. He plans to attend Furman University to study Sustainable Science
Sofie Gilbert is one of three Women's Community League (WCL) of Weston Scholarships recipients for 2018. In the fall, she will attend Rollins College in Winter Park, FL where she plans to major in Environmental Studies with a minor in Business and social entrepreneurship. Sofie's decision to follow this career path was influenced by her science teacher's passion for the importance of protecting the environment and in doing so becoming a custodian of it.
In addition to her maintaining her academic focus that included membership in the National Honor Society, Sofie was a four-season athlete, participating in soccer, basketball, varsity volleyball and rowing. Aside from sports, Sofie loves all things outdoors, including biking, hiking and sailing to name only a few.
When it comes to volunteering and personal interests of Sofie's, the two couldn't overlap more. She adores and takes great enjoyment from animals, spending time not only with her own pets but volunteering for various shelters such as the Animal Care Club, and Save-a-Dog shelter in Sudbury. She hopes to continue either fundraising or volunteering for animal shelters while she is at Rollins.
Garrett Lualdi was named a winner of the Payson Corbiere Memorial Award and Scholarship. Payson Corbiere was an accomplished swimmer, becoming an All-Scholastic in high school and an All-Anerican in college. Fun loving and described as having a "zest for life", Corbiere excelled in the water and life despite having contracted the HIV virus via a blood transfusion while in seventh grade. Over the course of the last four years, Garrett showcased similar heart, determination and dedication both to the sport of swimming and to his school community. Grounded, supportive and a friend to all, Garrett taught so many of the swim team athletes how to truly love the sport. He brought a unique combination of manners, loyalty, effort and honesty to the team. Additionally, Garrett was an 8-season athlete rowing for the Wayland-Weston Crew from his freshman fall through senior spring. Hamilton College will benefit from Garrett's presence these next four years.
Conor McCoy is a recipient of the Weston Boosters Scholarship Award, which was created as a way to honor a student athlete for his/her outstanding accomplishments on the field, in the classroom, and as a part of the school community.
Part of the track & field, lacrosse and soccer teams at various points in his four years at WHS, Conor is a well-rounded, talented athlete. He is also an incredible musician and has shared that considerable talent as a mentor to aspiring musicians. A member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society, and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Conor has worked as a camp counselor and volunteered throughout his high school career, all while maintaining an impressive GPA. He will be attending Bates College.
John McMann received a scholarship award from the Rotary Club in recognition of his community contributions. John volunteered to renovate an abandoned building in Detroit into a community center and regularly volunteers for local community events including Spring Fling and the Pumpkin festival. John volunteered to be a stage and set designer for Weston Theater Company. He also was a three-year member of the cross country team after spending a season rowing with Wayland-Weston Crew. John plans to study Engineering at Utah State University.
Nick Steedle is a recipient of the David. A. Perry Memorial Scholarship. Nick's athletic achievements as part of the Weston Swim & Dive team were impressive. He was part of two State Championship teams and knocked off a number of personal "bests" off of his list this year. He's also very talented in the building department, having volunteered his time as a set building for the WHS Theatre Company several years. A member of the WHS Chorus, Nick is an active volunteer and is an accomplished student with an impressive GPA. This year he also achieved the top rank in the Boy Scouts - that of Eagle Scout. Nick will be attending Purdue University this fall.
Taniya Williams received a scholarship award from the Rotary Club. She volunteers extensively through her church, including years of singing in the church choir, taking on the role of church camp counselor, and acting as the secretary of her church youth group. She was a cornerstone member of the Concert Choir and managed the challenging schedule of a three-sport varsity athlete who played volleyball, basketball and softball. Taniya plans to study Special Education at Franklin Pierce University
The third annual Scholarship Celebration Dinner is scheduled for June 13, 2019.