Chamber of Commerce awards local students

Twenty-one scholarships totaling $32,500 will be awarded to area high school seniors on Friday, May 4, at the Good Morning Breakfast of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber Foundation awards scholarships each May to some of the area's hardest working and highest-achieving students.

Foundation funds come from different sources but are mostly provided by area companies and individuals - often as a memorial to a particular person. The chamber's Scholarship Committee chooses the student winners based on all-around excellence - an outstanding academic record and other achievements and activities, both in and out of school.

Some of this year's scholarship recipients and their awards include:

Adam Brault of Westminster was awarded the Enterprise Bank & Trust Scholarship for $1,500. A senior at Oakmont Regional High School, he is the son of Dr. Peter C. Brault and Sharon D. Zimmerman. Planning a major in business and international studies, he hopes to attend the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Cherisse Carlo of Townsend, a student at Nashoba Valley Technical High School, was awarded a Golf Tournament Scholarship for $1,500. Her parents are Donna and Robert J. Carlo. She ranks second in her class of 116 and plans to pursue a nursing career at Regis College or UMass Lowell, and eventually a nurse practitioner degree.

Lauren Meitzler from Oakmont High School has been awarded the Harry Doehla Foundation, Inc., Scholarship for $1,500. She resides in Ashburnham with her parents, Richard and Pamela Meitzer, and ranks first academically in her class of 177. She attained a perfect SAT score of 800 in mathematics and plans to study mathematics at Gordon College in the fall.

Angela Shannon has received a HealthAlliance Hospitals Scholarship for $1,500. A student at North Middlesex Regional High School, she lives in Townsend with her parents, James and Deborah Shannon. She ranked academically sixth out of her class of 288 and plans to attend Villanova University next year to study nursing.

Abbie Tremblay is receiving a Chamber Foundation Scholarship for $1,500. She attends Oakmont Regional High School and is the daughter of Jeanette and Stephen Tremblay of Westminster. She has an academic ranking of third out of her class of 177, and would like to attend either Duke or Vanderbilt University next year.

Student scholarship winners along with their parents and selected school staff will be guests at the breakfast. The event starts with coffee at 6:45 a.m. and buffet breakfast, at the Four Points Hotel, 99 Erdman Way, off Route 12 in Leominster. Anyone interested in attending may contact the chamber at (978) 353-7600.

The event is sponsored by HealthAlliance Hospital. The cost to attend the Good Morning Breakfast is $19.95 for chamber members and $40 for non-members; contact Heidi Getek, program director for more information at (978) 353-7600 x 235 or getek@massweb.org.