The New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade announced the winners of its annual high school and college scholarships last week.
Six local students received awards after their essays were judged by a panel of local Irish American leaders.
First place in the college category went to Shane Slattery, a student at Fordham University whose family members are in several Irish organizations, including the AOH, the Kerry Pipers and the Tipperary Association. Second place went to Molloy College student Meghan Bevan, an intern with the Catholic Faith Network, and third place went to Gavin Cogan, who attends Rollins College in Florida and has a family member in the LAOH.
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First place high school winner is Fionn Kenny who attends Hunter College High School and has family members in the Cork Association. Second place winner Norah O’Brien is a student at Holy Trinity on Long Island with a family member in AOH Division 11. Third place went to Angela Fee, a student at Haldane High in Cold Spring and a member of the Parents and Students of Irish Music and Dancing Association of North America.
“I would like to wish all winners the very best in their studies and future endeavors”, said Sean Lane, chairman of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Board of Directors.
“The scholarship program is extremely important to us as it engages young individuals who are interested in their Irish heritage and hopefully, they will step up to be the future leaders of this great parade.
“On behalf of the parade’s Board of Directors, I wish to express our appreciation to the affiliated organizations who got the word out concerning the scholarships, and to all the parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, faculty members at the schools and colleges who encourage students to submit research papers. We do plan to expand the parade scholarship program in the future.”
Scholarship program co-chair Catherine Tully Muscente added, “We were very happy this year to add to the scholarship program an opportunity for awardees to read their essays at a salon hosted by the Irish American Writers and Artists (IAW&A). I would like to thank Mary Pat Kelly, president of IAW&A for affording this opportunity to the awardees so they will have an opportunity to meet world-renowned writers and artists. I would also like to thank our expert panel of judges who gave of their time to review the research papers and especially thank all of the applicants for their submissions.”
The parade scholarship program is funded by the St. Patrick’s Day Foundation and again this year, the foundation is funding nine scholarships, the traditional six parade scholarships for affiliated organizations and three additional scholarships in Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s name for Irish American children attending Catholic schools that march annually in the parade.
“The board of the St. Patrick Day Foundation is delighted to support the education of the children belonging to the families of the parade’s affiliated organizations,” said Hilary Beirne, co-chair of the program and chairman of the St. Patrick’s Day Foundation.
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