Rotary hands out scholarships to 13 students

Around 90 people gathered at Tavistock Country Club on May 20 to celebrate 13 scholarships awarded to Camden County students by the Haddonfield Rotary Club Foundation, a funding arm of the borough’s Rotary Club.

The students were chosen from 32 applicants and were selected by a committee of five people.

Foundation chair Denise Stuart said it wasn’t easy to pick the winners.

“Applications were evaluated on academic achievement, financial need, recommendations and the required essay,” Stuart explained. “All the applicants were very qualified, so it was a very tough decision for our committee members. We’re immensely proud of this year’s scholarship recipients.”

While a majority of the winners were from the borough high school, others came from LEAP Academy, the Creative Arts High School, Haddon Heights High School, Urban Promise Academy and Washington Township High School.

The scholarships were awarded in a number of areas, including one for arts and academics. Also awarded were the Robert Oberholzer Scholarship, the Joe Baltake Scholarship for the Written Arts, the Rotary Club of Haddonfield Vocational Award, the Bill Wallner Scholarship and the Alice Downs Scholarship.

Each awardee earns $2,500 for the year.

The arts and academic award went to nine students, Leah Cedar from Haddonfield; Oluomachi Francis from LEAP; Scarlett Iglesias-Najera, Fatima Dickerson and Laura Martinez-Gonzalez, from the Creative Arts High School; and Benjamin Osawa, Gwyneth Maguire, Audrey Schweiker and Kierstyn Griffith, also from Haddonfield.

Mario Gebbia introduced Osawa, who spoke of his committment to both volunteerism and school work.

“Ben was deeply committed to the Preserving Black Haddonfield history Project,” Gebbia noted. ” … Now, Ann Feinleib, Ben’s German teacher, stated, and I quote, ‘Ben’s love for the German language and culture are contagious.’

Osawa earned a gold medal in the National German Exam in 2024 and a bronze medal last year. In April, he received a scholarship from the Haddonfield Civic Association. In his acceptance speech at Tavistock, he thanked the Rotary Club for reducing the financial strain of college.

“As I mentioned … I aspire to just do as much as I possibly can,” Osawa related. “And with the help of the Rotary Club and this scholarship, I don’t have to worry about finances much. It opens the door to keep growing and keep consuming, right?

“So I have to say, thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it a lot.”

The Oberholzer scholarship went to two students, Analiese Richards, from the Creative Arts High School, and Pablo Chavez, from Urban Promise. The Wallner scholarship was given to Cevannah Thornton of Haddonfield and the Baltake award went to Aidan Green, also from Haddonfield.

Green – who will attend Drexel University to major in film television – thanked his mother and father.

“I also want to thank my parents for one, pushing me to apply for this scholarship in the first place, and two, pushing me to be the best that I can be and always being there for me,” he said. “And third, I just want to thank you all for being here tonight. This is very important.

“They say it’s important to invest in the future, and thank you all for supporting that.”

A vocational award went to Angel Gabriel Lagares. He works as a mechanic in Cherry Hill after taking classes at Pennco Tech. Instead of money, he was awarded with tools, including socket trays.

Pamela Stalcup presented Lagares with his award, and he thanked everyone who gave money to the foundation.

“Even putting a single dollar in is really important because some of us,” he pointed out, “we don’t really come from being born here or we come from another country and every little help that can be given is really good.”

The Alice Downs Scholarship went to Emily Engber from Washington Township, who was absent from the awards.

The scholarship program has been growing since 2002, when the foundation gave out awards of $400 only to students from Haddonfield.