Twelve local graduating seniors received $500 scholarships to help them on their voyage to college later this year from the Masconomo Council 1232 Knights of Columbus, Manchester-by-the-Sea.
The charitable organization awarded the scholarships to graduating high school seniors, bringing the total number of scholarships presented by Council 1232 in the past 23 years to 144.
For the past eight years, the Council’s scholarship program for graduating seniors has been designated the Father Jack Gentleman Memorial Scholarship, in memory of Father Jack Gentleman the late pastor of Sacred Heart, Manchester-by-the-Sea and St John the Baptist, Essex, now designated The Visitation Parish.
Local donations and the proceeds of a fundraising raffle annually fund the scholarships. All funds raised go exclusively to The Father Jack Gentleman Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The scholarship recipients all attend Manchester Essex Regional High School: Lila Carpenter, Connor Fitzgerald, Jack Newton, Catherine Carvalho, Zoe Elwell, Kendall Newton, Giuseppe Tra, Amalie Vytopilova, Dane Moruzzi, Grace Gustafson, Jackson Ring and Daniel Wood.
The “Mega Checks” awards were presented by Rene St Pierre and Tom Finn, representatives of the Knights of Columbus scholarship committee at Sacred Heart Church on Trinity Sunday, June 4.
Father Paul Flammia, the pastor of The Visitation Parish, blessed the graduates at a mass service preceding the ceremony and wished them well in their future endeavors.
Father Paul congratulated the scholarship recipients and noted the awards recognized the graduates’ achievements and community service. He said the awards also saluted their patience and forbearance in tough pandemic years.
He urged them, in the spirit of Father Jack, “to walk life’s journey loving one another, caring for each other, and treating others as you would wish to be treated.”
