The first Annual Father John V. Boland Memorial Scholarship was awarded this past week to Melissa Cortez, a High School Senior at Goshen High School in Goshen New York, who is also a student participant in several Warwick Area Migrant Farmworker programs. She will be attending SUNY Orange (Orange County Community College) in Middletown, New York in the 2022 Fall Semester.
This Scholarship has been made possible by donations in memory of Reverend Monsignor John V. Boland; who passed away one year ago on June 6, 2021. The Scholarship was established to support educational efforts for a child of farmworkers who would be attending college. You can read more about Father Boland and his incredible impact as pastor, as well as, beloved community member of the Vernon, NJ community here. This scholarship continues his legacy of service by fostering positive impact for the youth of the communities he so faithfully served as a pastor for so many years.
Tony Boland, nephew of Father Boland, and Kathy Brieger, Executive Director of Warwick Area Farmworker Organization, are shown presenting the $1,000 scholarship to Melissa Cortez in the photos above and below.
The Scholarship Award Committee was very impressed with the essay written by Melissa and you can read Ms. Cortez’s winning essay here.
The Warwick Area Farmworker Organization will hold its Annual High School Seniors Graduation Celebration in early July 2022 to honor all of the WAFO’s Programs High School students graduating this year including those who have participated in the Summer Enrichment Program.
Congratulations to all the graduating seniors in our WAFO programs, as well as, the many graduating seniors in the larger surrounding communities our various program service, as well as, the many volunteers who are students in these school districts who help out so generously in our programs. We are so proud of these many young people in our programs as participants, volunteers, and many times pulling double duty as both who are tomorrow’s leaders in not only our communities, but the larger world. A special congratulations once again to Melissa Cortez on her winning essay.
