School is right around the corner for students, and for this year we've chosen three young adults to receive our Jimmy Patrick Memorial Scholarship and our Dr. John Trifiletti Scholarship.
The scholarships are given in honor of important members of our agency board of directors. Dean Pritchard was on our board, Jimmy Patrick was one of the founders of the agency and Dr. John Trifiletti was a board member and also served as the assistant director on staff.
Each scholarship requires that students:
Write an essay. The essay must be no fewer than 300 words and no more that 500 words in length. Students are encouraged to write about their experience with a disability, their educational goals, and career aspirations.
Have a documented disability
Maintain a 2.5 GPA
Be in the process of enrolling or currently enrolled part time (6 hours) in a college, university, vocational or technical school
Provide high school or college transcripts
Be a Florida resident
At least one letter of recommendation
Recipients of Scholarship:
We would like to congratulate Luis Vivas, Rebecca Ray, and Joshua Antal for working to receive these scholarship.
Luis is 19 years old and attends Florida Community College and currently has a G.P.A of 4.0. In his admission essay Luis said, " My goal is to help others with handicaps, particularly individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other disabilities." Luis was diagnosed with autism at 10 years old. He has been in college for two years and is still deciding on whether to pick a career in medicine or psychology.
One of Rebecca Ray's favorite quotes is,"Don't let your struggle become your identity." In March of 2009 Rebecca was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, also known as brain cancer. Rebecca has aspirations of attending college to get a master's degree in Social Work. She said,"I also want to work in Pediatric Oncology, with young patients who are at a scary point in their lives. I know what not to say, I know how they feel, and most importantly I know that taking their minds off the diagnosis even for a few minutes is a big impact."
Lastly we have Joshua Antal. Joshua is excellent student, being recognized as class Valedictorian. School is not his only passion. In the past year he's been involved in many community activities such as March of Dimes, volunteering to help backstage with the school play and helping run several school events. He's also worked with the school technology department for several projects. This sparked his interest in working in a engineering or computer related field.
