UCS graduating seniors earn over $40,000 in scholarships

UTICA — Utica Community Schools community partners gave 39 graduating seniors scholarships ranging from $500 to $2,000 to continue their educations at trade schools, community colleges or universities, for a total of more than $40,000 in scholarships.

To be considered for a scholarship, a graduating senior needed to submit an application and have an appraisal submitted from a non-related adult. Applications were reviewed by school and district administration.

Noor Al-Hasan, a senior from the Gene L. Klida Utica Academy for International Studies, was one of several recipients of the $1,000 Superintendent’s Scholarship. For her scholarship process, Al-Hasan wrote an essay about how the scholarship money would help her, and about her own experiences with UCS.

“So, I wrote my essay actually about the community I’m in and, specifically, I wrote it about my friends in the debate community and teams,” Al-Hasan said. “So, my debate team that I’m a part of has been supporting me for four years as I’ve competed at the big debate competitions and forensics competitions. And so I talked about the community itself and how I kind of joined this community, and how it created more of a family for me, and how they supported me throughout the whole journey — always pushing me to work towards my best, and even getting that position of coming to be a captain in my senior year.”

Al-Hasan is planning to study law at Wayne State University following her senior year.

“I kind of want to explore the different branches that are there for a lot of them (law), but I’m more interested in public government, public relations, maybe even government like a prosecutor of some sort,” Al-Hasan said.

Some of the other Superintendent’s Scholarship recipients include Andrew Luce, from Eisenhower High School; AnnMarie Ekpo, from Henry Ford II High School; Ava Langley, from Stevenson High School; Charlotte Caruss, from Henry Ford II High School; Chloe Sabagh, from Stevenson High School; Delaney Wolsker, from Eisenhower High School; Dima Dauo, from GLK-UAIS; Faith Woods, from Stevenson High School; Gianna D’Angelo, from Henry Ford II High School; Inriki Polus, from Utica High School; Izana Chowdhury, from GLK-UAIS; Jacalyn Yakel, from Eisenhower High School; Jackson Bright, from Utica High School; John Murphy, from Eisenhower High School; Joseph Mansy, from Utica High School; Kara Boice, from Utica High School; Laura Bojaj, from Eisenhower High School; Lucy Harwood, from Stevenson High School; Luke Mulka, from Henry Ford II High School; Mackenzie Garay, from Stevenson High School; Michael Oommen, from GLK-UAIS; Michalina Woloszyn, from Henry Ford II High School; Nolan Dutts, from Stevenson High School; Olivia Itoney, from Utica High School; Savannah Diegel, from Eisenhower High School; Sofia Wolyniec de Freitas, from Utica High School; Stormy Cunningham, from Alternative Learning Center; Taylor Patterson, from GLK-UAIS; and Yechan Kim, from Henry Ford II High School.

The volunteer UCS Foundation for Educational Excellence supports the Superintendent’s Scholarships.

“There is a tremendous sense of pride in our community surrounding the Superintendent’s Scholarship program,” Superintendent Robert S. Monroe said in a press release. “Exemplified through this year’s scholarship recipients is the lasting, positive impact that a Utica Community Schools education has on our graduates.”

Six families sponsor individual scholarships, including the Lillian and Gus Demas Scholarship, the Lois Holtgren-Groblicki Scholarship, the William R. Peper and Jean E. Peper Scholarships, the Larry M. Smith Scholarship, the Stefan’s Hope Scholarship and the Michele Templeton Scholarship.

The recipients of these scholarships are:

• The $1,500 Lillian and Gus Demas Scholarship: Brigitte Nagy, from Henry Ford II High School; Natalia Trela, from Henry Ford II High School; and Sean Stoneman, from Henry Ford II High School.

• The $1,000 Holtgren-Groblicki Scholarship: Gabrielle Tasky, from Eisenhower High School.

• The $2,000 Jean E. Peper Scholarship: Victoria Kabat, from Stevenson High School.

• The $2,000 William R. Peper Scholarship: John Gago, from Stevenson High School.

• The $1,500 Larry M. Smith Scholarship: Shrey Bhatt, from Stevenson High School.

• The $500 Michele Templeton Scholarship: Christiana Saroki, from Stevenson High School.

• The $500 Stefan’s Hope Scholarship: Alvi Zaman, from Stevenson High School.

“It is an honor to celebrate this group of deserving seniors as they prepare to embark upon their future beyond UCS,” Monroe said in a press release. “Each of this year’s scholarship recipients are to be applauded for their dedication to academic excellence and profound sense of community.”

For more information, visit uticak12.org.