The Warren County Board of County Commissioners honored five recent graduates of Warren County Technical School with scholarships from the New Jersey Association of Counties Foundation.

“Every little bit helps when it comes to scholarship money, whether paying for books or adding extra meals,” remarked Commissioner Director Lori Ciesla.

Every year, the NJAC Foundation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the New Jersey Association of Counties, helps raise funds to provide scholarships to county vocational-technical school graduates who plan on continuing their education at a New Jersey county college, state college or university.

NJAC Executive Director John G. Donnadio attended the scholarship presentation remarking, “The candidates get better every year. Congratulations to all our recipients who have an outstanding and bright future.”

Recipients included Kendall Dolan, who attended in person, Rebecca Ricci, Kylie Norin, Alexander Sohl and Joshua Lanfrank, who were unable to attend.

Presented with one of two Investors Bank scholarships worth $500 was Oxford resident Kendall. A four-year member of the Cosmetology program, Kendall has been a dancer with the North Jersey Civic Ballet since she was six and volunteers to do hair and other backstage jobs. She plans to attend Warren County Community College to study Business.

Rebecca, a Phillipsburg resident, received the Amazon Scholarship worth $1,000. Rebecca has excelled in the Child Development CTE program for the past four years and plans to attend WCCC to pursue a degree in English with the hope of becoming an author.

Blairstown resident Kylie received the second Investors Bank scholarship, worth $500. A four-year member of the Health Sciences CTE program and a member of the National Society of High School Students, Kylie plans to attend the County College of Morris with a concentration in Biology on her way to pursuing a career in veterinary medicine.

Planning to attend WCCC with a concentration in Computer Science, Alexander received the AT&T Scholarship in the amount of $500. As a four-year member of the Computer Programming CTE with Test Out Pro certificates, Alex is well versed in Code HS. He works at a local movie theater and volunteers at A Helping Wing Parrot Rescue in Blairstown.

Joshua of Great Meadows was awarded the SHI International Corporation scholarship worth $500. A two-year member of the Electronics and Computer Science programs, he has been active in Student Government and the Robotics programs while helping in school activities including Take Your Child to Work Day and the Freshman picnic. Joshua is a Team Associate at Walmart and enjoys physical fitness. He plans to attend Rutgers University with a concentration in Computer Science.

“This is a great event to acknowledge some of our fantastic students here in Warren County,” said Commissioner James R. Kern III.

SHI International is a global provider of technology products and services founded in 1989 and headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey. Since 2019, SHI International Foundation has awarded the NJAC foundation with grant money, this year totaling $10,500 to vocational technical school graduates continuing their education in New Jersey.

Investors Bank, a division of Citizens Bank, recently awarded the NJAC Foundation a grant of $21,000 to assist vocational school graduates in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties. Each will receive $500 scholarships to continue their education at a state or county college.

This is AT&T’s first year of participation, awarding the NJAC Foundation with $10,500 in scholarships. This scholarship requires students to be pursuing a degree in cybersecurity, computer information systems, data analytics, database management, computer science or a related field. Amazon doubled its scholarship funds to $21,000.

“Thank you to John Donnadio, NJAC and all the partners who continuously supply funding for these scholarships and help to invest in our future, community colleges and technical schools graduates who receive these awards,” commented Commissioner Jason J. Sarnoski.