The Westfield Rotary Club distributed $92,000 worth of scholarships to 23 high school students from Westfield at the club's annual scholarship luncheon on June 15.

"We live for this day, to help future leaders," said chapter president Mark Swingle. "We help so many promising young people in our community."

A selection committee of six Rotarians awards scholarships based on community service, academic achievement and financial need. Applicants must also live in Westfield and be seniors in high school, but do not need to attend Westfield High School. Each scholarship winner has performed many hours of community service.

"These students…have already impacted my life," said selection committee chair Liz Ensslin, who stated she often quotes recipients' application essays to her own children when they need inspiration. "Every one of the applicants has demonstrated a significant commitment to service…I only ask that (the scholarship recipients) continue helping others."

Scholarships ranged from one year, $1,500 awards to two $15,000 scholarships in memory of Charles and Florence Wallace, awarded to Matthew Treese, who will attend Villanova, and the Quinnapiac-bound Kathleen O'Donnell-Pickert. Receiving scholarships this year are writers and actors, gymnasts and tennis players, Eagle Scouts and honors society members; the recipients are as varied and diverse as the Rotarians for whom their scholarships are given.

Caroline Yaeger received $10,000, in honor of Westfield Rotarians living and deceased, to attend the University of Delaware. Yaeger plans on studying "something in the sciences," perhaps biology and psychology. Among her service projects this year were helping with the Special Olympics, and Pedals for Progress, which gets used bicycles to underprivileged people that need cheap, non-polluting transportation.

Jason Yang, who received a $2,500 scholarship in memory of Emerson Thomas, is a WHS football and wrestling standout who will attend Rutgers next year. Yang, a first-generation American, will be the first member of his family to go to college.

Tara Criscuolo, oboe player and captain of the WHS tennis team, received $1,500 to attend The College of New Jersey. For her service project, Criscuolo ran a book drive, collecting more than 1,000 books over three months for Queen of Angels school in Newark.

"I wanted to share my love of reading with others," she said.

Alexa Zepka, another scholarship recipient, loves books so much that she writes them. She donates a portion of sales from her novel, Kurz or Nothing,  based on her experience of being rejected from a writing program in 8^th grade, to a charity dedicated to combating leukemia.

The Westfield Rotary Club began giving college money in 1923, in the form of loans that had to be paid back. In 1954, they switched from loans to scholarships. The two main fundraisers for the club's scholarship foundation are the Grand Raffle and the annual pancake breakfast. To date, the Westfield Rotary Club has provided roughly 1,300 Westfield students with about $2 million worth of college funds.

"It is truly the words of our students (that)…inspire us," said WHS principal Peter Renwick in the luncheon's closing remarks. "The world is in good hands."