Rotary awards more than $90k in scholarships at annual luncheon

The Rotary Club of Riverhead awarded a total of $90,500 in college scholarships to 17 students at their annual Scholarship Luncheon Wednesday at the Hyatt’s Sea Star Ballroom. New Rotary president George Dupree presided over the event. Annmarie Zilnicki, chair of the group’s scholarship committee, opened and closed the awards and introduced the recipients.

The winning students were selected from a pool of 44 applicants. There were so many worthy students that the scholarship committee asked the board to allow them to award three additional scholarships, bringing the total number this year to 17. 

 “It was probably the most challenging year we had,” Ms. Zilnicki said in her opening remarks. “I mean, everyone, at Riverhead High School, at the Charter School, was just so impressive.”

The scholarship awardees were Marieline Amaya-Mendez, Enronn Bridgewater, Sherlyn Canel, Naomi Carretillo, Benjamin Caskie, Jayla Charles, Benjamin Dono, Hiranya Gunasingha, John Hubbard, Carley Lamond, Avery Mato, Genevieve Matwey, Alexander Pascual, Tiffany Perez, Kiara Chabla Sarmiento, and Morgan Stromski. Each recipient gave a short speech and detailing their future plans.  

The largest single award was the $66,000 W. Bruce Stark Memorial Scholarship, which was shared among three students. More than $600,000 has been awarded through the scholarship program since 2013.