Schoarship winners Isabelle D’Amico, Hannah Erdogan, and Jacqueline Ziegler
Three exceptional young women were chosen from a competitive pool of applicants to receive our Makefield Area AAUW Branch Scholarships for 2018. As you are undoubtedly aware, each year we invite applications from four public high schools in our area: Council Rock South, Morrisville, Neshaminy, and Pennsbury. Applicants are nominated by their guidance counselors and must be in the top 10% of their class. We are looking for young women who not only excel in their studies, but who are active, who give to others, and who we think have the potential to make important contributions to their chosen profession and to their community in the future.
The first scholarship recipient is Isabelle d’Amico from Council Rock High School South. Isabelle’s extracurriculars and community service have a strong bent toward competitive events in both music and science. Throughout high school, she has been a violist with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and the Council Rock South Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. She has also taken first place in several regional science competitions and participated in the Penn Summer Science Initiative, the Science Olympiad Team and the NASA HUNCH Program, as well as belonging to three National Honors societies. Having already created an apparatus to facilitate the recycling of plastic grocery bags, Isabelle plans to study environmental engineering and energy system at Georgia Institute of Technology. Thanks to a anonymous donor, the scholarship that Isabelle received was given in honor of Eva Miller, celebrating Eva’s birthday and honoring her many years of chairing the Girls’ Recognition Reception.
Our next scholarship winner is Hannah Erdogan from Pennsbury High School. She is a national champion instructor with a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo and she also practices yoga. She has a very impressive list of volunteer activities at St. Mary Medical Center and er Hall, as well as a food pantry and soup kitchen. In addition, she has donated her time to helping Middle Eastern refugees adjusting to the United States by working with the Interfaith Coalition for Refugee Resettlement and serving as an intern and camp counselor with As-Bustan Seeds of Culture. Last summer, she was a student research fellow at Fox Chase Cancer Center. She will be attending the University of Pennsylvania in September, planning to study biology and Middle Eastern Studies with the hope of becoming a bilingual physician and a medical liaison for recently resettled refugees.
Most years our AAUW chapter has only been able to present two high school scholarships, but this year we have an additional scholarship donated in memory of Amy Lowenstein, a beloved member of our branch who passed away earlier this year. The Scholarship Committee has chosen Jacqueline Ziegler as the recipient of this special award. Jackie’s extracurricular activities include serving as captain of the Varsity Girls Soccer Team, participating in Indoor and Outdoor Track and involvement in the Debate team and Future Business Leaders of America, as well as the Special Olympics and the National Honors Society. She has volunteered with numerous school and church project and works as an assistant coach of Super Soccer Stars and as a rides operator at Sesame Place. Jackie hopes to dedicate her life to helping others and giving back to her community. She plans to study nursing at Holy Family University in order to become a registered nurse specializing pediatrics or anesthesiology.
We wish all three young women success in their further studies and hope that they will be able to achieve their dreams.