Montville UNICO Announces Scholarship Winners For 2020

The Montville Chapter of UNICO National, the largest Italian-American civil organization in the country, recently awarded four scholarships to local high school seniors totaling $5,000. The Chapter’s Educational Grant was awarded to Vanessa Van Bodegon of Morris Hills High School who will be attending Seton Hall University to study physical therapy and biology. The Chapter’s Vocational/Trade Grant was awarded to Gianna Matthews of Morris Catholic High School, who will be attending Sacred Heart University in the school’s nursing program. These students of Italian descent were chosen based upon their academic excellence, participation in extracurricular activities and financial need.

The Chapter’s “Service Above Self” Award is given to a Montville High School student of Italian descent who has demonstrated exceptional service to the community emblematic of UNICO National’s mission statement. This year, two students were worthy of the award. Gabriella Casciano, who devoted over one hundred hours to develop and implement a program to teach seniors in in the surrounding communities how to use modern technology in order to communicate with family and friends and expand their access to information to broaden their educational and cultural experiences, will be attending Boston College. Claudia Colatrella, who as President of the Montville School of Rock organization, planned and presented musical concerts as fundraisers for local charities, and devoted countless hours to the REACH program which promotes a drug and alcohol-free lifestyle for students, and who will be attending The College of New Jersey.

The Montville Chapter has distributed grants totaling over a quarter of a million dollars to local high school seniors over the past 30 years, awarding monies generated from various fund raisers throughout the year through the Montville UNICO Foundation, the Chapter’s non-profit 501(c)(3) tax exempt sister organization.