The New York Grand Lodge Foundation, Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA) conducted its annual scholarship awards at Tappan Zee High School in Orangeburg, New York. Seventy-one students from across New York State were awarded scholarships, with 52 of the award recipients on hand to receive their awards. Each student received a minimum of $1,200 and will be a ‘student-at large’ member for the four years they are at school, which means that they do not belong to specific school, but instead belong to the NY Grand Lodge and receive all materials relative to OSIA. The total amount awarded this year was $88,700 to deserving young adults. Many of the generous scholarship donors and state officers were also there for this special event.
This year, a Graduate Level Scholarship was added through the generosity of the New York Grand Lodge Foundation. Additional funding was also added to the Cellini Lodge #2206 and the Paul Agnello Scholarship in memory of Fina Agnello.
State 2nd Vice President Michele Ment, Chairperson of the Scholarship Committee, presented the seven State awards. Florence Gatto, Chairperson of the Graduate Awards, presented the three Graduate awards, while District Chairpersons distributed all other awards. The Chairpersons were Joanne Spera, District 1; Angelo Grande, District 2; Rosemarie Baffo Stathes, District 3; Margaret Forte, District 4; Sybil DeSimone, District 5; Cesare Maniccia, District 6 and Josephine Federico, District 7. Scholarship Co-Chair Donna Torrisi, presented the scholarships for District 8 and Susan Alicea presented the grants to the other recipients.
