2022 Awardees
The Little Italy Lodge’s La Famiglia Scholarship Program was established in 1999 to assist deserving members in good standing and their families who are striving to further their education by pursuing a college or university undergraduate degree.
The generosity of Lodge Members and other major donors such as Mr. Carl T. Julio have resulted in the Program awarding 80 scholarships totaling nearly $300,000 since its inception. With the generous support of the Little Italy Lodge and the Italian American community, your Foundation’s Board of Directors is proud to announce that The La Famiglia Scholarship Program was able to offer the largest total amount of scholarship dollars and the greatest number of awardees ever in 2022!
The Program is pleased to announce that scholarship awards in the amount of $38,000 are being made to the following seven outstanding young men and women:
Ashley Keister is the recipient of The Mattricciani/Vondersmith Scholarship in the amount of $6,000 and was sponsored by her grandmother, Rosemarie Johnson, Lodge Member.
Brendan Elliott is the recipient of The Jerome and Angela Elliott Scholarship in the amount of $6,000 and was sponsored by his grandfather, Lodge Member, former Scholarship Committee Chair and Emeritus Foundation Board Member, Jerome Elliott, Sr..
Sophia Montcalmo is the recipient of the 1st Carl T. Julio Scholarship in the amount of $6,000 and was sponsored by her grandfather, Past Lodge President and Foundation Board Member, Anthony Montcalmo.
Isabella Keh was awarded a $5,000 scholarship and was sponsored by Roland Keh, her father and Lodge Member.
Madelin McLean was awarded a $5,000 scholarship and was sponsored by Dr. Paul R. Rao, her grandfather, Foundation President and Lodge Member.
Ingrid Lenzenweger was awarded a $5,000 scholarship and was sponsored by Teresa Lenzenweger, her mother and Lodge Member.
Ethan Zielinsky was awarded a $5,000 scholarship in Honor of Anthony “Tony” Verdecchia. Ethan was sponsored by Clera Zielinsky, his grandmother and Lodge Member.
The Little Italy Lodge Foundation is extremely proud of these students and congratulates them as well as the many individuals who have supported our scholarship program and made it successful. In the August’s LaNotizia we will share the awardees’ college & major. Each month for the next 7 months, we will publish the scholarship essay of each of the 7 awardees. We were pleased to receive 11 complete applications this year and hope to be able to offer a generous scholarship to next year’s awardees as well. We were happy to report that well over half of the applicants did receive a scholarship award this year. The seven recipients with their sponsors and families will be invited to the Lodge in 2022. The Lodge membership meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 7:00pm and is eagerly anticipating meeting the 7 new scholarship awardees. In addition, The Grand Lodge of Maryland is hosting a scholarship recognition event at Ripken Stadium on Sunday August 7, 2022. Please congratulate these outstanding individuals. Congratulazioni!
Respectfully submitted,
Paul R. Rao PhD, Foundation President