Central Orange County Italian American Association confers scholarships

The Central Orange County Italian American Association is pleased to introduce its 2021 scholarship winners.

All of the fellows in the white shirts are members of the executive board which presented the $1,000 scholarship checks to graduating seniors. Executive Board members, from left to right, are: Salvatore Fini, Robert Carmona, Giovanni Pirraglia, John Di Lapi and Joe Casillo, president.

Scholarship winners, photographed from left to right, are: Madison Giardina; Mikayla Beauregard; Mary Calandra; Kaitlyn Taylor; and Thomas Magee. Not pictured are winners Liam Walker and Ella Giannetto.

All scholarship winners are from the Warwick Valley School District with the exception of Kaitlyn Taylor, who is from Goshen School District. Scholarships were conferred at a dinner held by the Central Orange County Italian American Association last month.

The association is a nonprofit charitable organization and the money comes from their fund-raising efforts.

‘I am proud to be able to represent my heritage’

Scholarship recipient Kaitlyn Taylor is now attending the University of Delaware. “Being chosen to receive the scholarship from the Italian-American Association was an honor,” she said. “I am proud to be able to represent my heritage as I pursue my further education. I’m majoring in biological sciences in hopes of going to medical school and receiving the scholarship has helped with the financial burden for my education path.”

The pandemic’s impact

Fewer high schools responded this year, according to the Association’s secretary, John Di Lapi. Only Warwick and Goshen school districts participated.

Di Lapi said he believes this was because schools were shut down due to COVID during the past year.

The Central Orange County Italian American Association hopes for greater participation in future.

Participants must have some Italian heritage, belong to a participating high school and are required to have good grades and submit a transcript and an essay explaining what their Italian heritage means to them and their aspirations for their college future.

Essentials

In addition to providing scholarships, the Italian-American Association provides Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings for the families of House on the Hill, as well as toys at Christmas. They also conduct the Veterans families’ toy drive at the Dikeman Engine & Hose Co. firehouse at Christmas.

For information about the Central Orange County Italian American Association, write to them at:

PO Box 455

Goshen, NY 10924.