Brandon Rotarians in June awarded 12 seniors from six high schools scholarships totaling $26,500, noting their determined service and toil for academic achievement.
Collectively, the 12 seniors reported 3,519 service hours, including the 704 hours earned by Durant High School graduate Julian Montefusco, bound for the University of South Florida (USF). With a 5.86 weighted GPA, Montefusco received the $2,500 Sharon S. Sellers Memorial Scholarship, awarded in remembrance of the wife of longtime Rotarian John Sellers.
‘Service Above Self’ is the mission of Rotary International, said Tim Ryan, the outgoing president of the Rotary Club of Brandon, at the Rivard-Simmons Event Center, owned by the Brandon Rotary Charity Fund. The June 10 scholarship recognition was on the agenda for the club’s June 10 meeting.
Ryan invited the scholarship recipients, from Armwood, Bloomingdale, Durant, Newsome and Riverview high schools and Winthrop College Prep Academy, to live a life of service, and to consider one day becoming an adult Rotarian. Past President Debbie Meegan told the graduates that in college they can join Rotaract, a service organization for ages 18-30, sponsored by Rotary International, which at the University of South Florida (USF), she added, is considered one of the strongest such clubs in the country.
Indeed, at last year’s scholarship presentation, USF Rotaract President Suhas ‘Sue’ Das accepted on behalf of his Rotary International service club a check for $1,200, noting the club’s 400 events and 8,900 service hours. Overall, Rotary’s eight scholarship recipients last year reported 2,005 community service hours.
As for this year’s scholarship recipients, Imogen Lanzetta, from Newsome High, is off to USF with a $2,000 scholarship. She earned 320 community service hours and a 6.63 weighted GPA. Also from Newsome, headed to the University of Florida (UF), are Vincent Nordquist (223 hours, 7.0 weighted GPA) and Andrew Rintoul (178 hours, 7.56 weighted GPA), both of whom were awarded $2,500. Headed to Florida State University (FSU), with a $2,000 scholarship, is Newsome graduate Christian Reggie (200 hours, 5.84 weighted GPA).
From Bloomingdale High, headed to UF, Purdue University and Liberty University, respectively, are Calleigh Eakle (405 hours, 10.26 weighted GPA), Carter Young (304 hours, 9.62 weighted GPA) and Samantha Dimler (313 hours, 5.28 weighted GPA). Eakle and Young received $2,500 scholarships; Dimler received a $2,000 scholarship.
Rounding out the $2,000 scholarship recipients, and bound for UF, are Asher Berger, from Riverview High (104 hours, 7.02 weighted GPA), and Cameron Campbell, from Armwood High (156 hours, 6.6 weighted GPA). Headed for FSU, from Winthrop College Prep Academy, are twin sisters Catalina Dixon (308 hours, 6.4 weighted GPA) and Kristina Dixon (304 hours, 6.4 weighted GPA).
To conclude the presentation, scholarship recipients were asked to take a group picture and to thank the folks who supported them as they sat proudly in attendance. Among the responses, they thanked the mom “who supported me through everything,” the dad who’s “just always been there to push me to do better” and the parents “who helped me with everything I managed to get myself roped into.”
The club meets on Tuesdays at noon at 3007 S. Kings Ave. in Brandon at the Rivard-Simmons Rotary Event Center, which is available for rentals. For more, visit www.brandonrotary.org. Call Larry Fassett at 813-767-5803.
