Local teens snag scholarships for community service

Fifteen local scholars got a jump-start on their college tuition, thanks to the Kassenbrock Brothers Memorial Scholarship Fund.

The students – all high school seniors — were chosen out of approximately 50 applicants for the $5,000 to $1,000 grants based on a history of documented community service, as well as stellar academics, said Mary Ann Walsh, the fund’s administrator, during the May meeting of the Bay Ridge Community Council, where the 15 were introduced.

“This year’s applicants were extraordinary, not only in the performance of community service but also in academics,” stressed Walsh. “They go above and beyond what is required by their high school.”

David Whitebook, who heads up the selection process, concurred. “We had trouble getting down to 15out of the original applicants,” he told the assembled group at McKinley Intermediate School,

Fort Hamilton Parkway and 74th Street.

This year’s scholarship awardees are Nadia Asous, Inna Lapidus, Emen Tabit and Eleni Veneris from Fort Hamilton High school; Annemarie Beckmann from Bishop Kearney High School; Ryan Campbell, Dylan Larkin, Andrew Petric and Daniel Witke from Xaverian High School; Sarah Cappiello, Elisa Csorba, Samantha Marinello and Karina Succar from Fontbonne Hall Academy; Katherine Dinerman from LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts; and Katherine Perchik from Bishop Ford High School.