Holyoke students honored

Date: 7/28/2009

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



HOLYOKE -- Once again Comcast and the mayor's office have joined to together to honor young city scholars.

Lizaida Rodriquez, Alec Slepchuk and Jaimie Kebba were award $1,000 scholarships through the Comcast/Mayor's Scholarship program, now in its tenth year.

Steve Fitzgibbons, the manager of regional and government affairs for Comcast called the program "a great partnership."

The students were selected through an essay-writing contest in which they wrote on the subject of how the electronic media affects their lives. There were 14 essays submitted this year through a blind process. The mayor's staff than selected the three top essays.

Holyoke Mayor Michael Sullivan said that normally students heading toward careers in English and communications are generally the recipients of the scholarships, but this year none of the three headed towards those studies.

Rodriquez and Slepchuk are both attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and majoring in psychology and business, respectively. Kebba is going to Fitchburg State College to study theater arts.

In addition to the three scholarship winners, two more Holyoke youth received $1,000 scholarships through the Comcast 2009 Leaders and Achievers program. Nathalie Ortiz and Emily Zwirko were selected through that program in recognition of their leadership skills, academic achievement and a commitment to community service.