The Junior League of Summit proudly names Leila Esposito of Summit High School and Katie Zimmerman of Governor Livingston High School as recipients of our annual Shirley Wight Keeney Voluntarism Scholarships. In addition, we are thrilled to award our inaugural Continuing Education Scholarship to Sama Manchanda, who is currently attending the University of Southern California.
“The League is always impressed with the caliber of our scholarship applicants, and this year is no exception. The achievements and contributions of these women is an inspiration to us all, and we look forward to seeing what they accomplish as they continue their education,” said Junior League President, Liz Dutkewych.
Leila Esposito of Summit High School plans to study biology and Spanish and will be playing varsity soccer at Catholic University of America. Leila began pursuing her love for voluntarism early on as a Girl Scout in elementary school. She remained in scouting through high school and continued to bolster her passion for volunteer work through her Gold Award Project. She observed a need in the local community and devoted two years to tackling it with other volunteers. Over the past few years, Syrian, Afghani, and Iraqi refugee families have been seeking protection in Elizabeth, NJ. As a result, a new community of refugee children formed. A majority of the children, ages 4-18, have been out of school or have never attended school throughout their lives due to the constant presence of war in their home countries. In order to help acclimate these refugee children to the school environment and ease them into the American culture, she ran a summer program at a local mosque in Elizabeth to teach introductory English and beginner math skills. While working on this project, Leila has maintained a 4.2 GPA with a rigorous academic schedule and has been an involved member of her school’s student council. She captained her high school’s varsity soccer team for two seasons. She is looking forward to remaining very active in the volunteering community while continuing to study and play soccer at college next year.
Katie Zimmermann of Governor Livingston High School will be attending Elon University. Katie has been an active, volunteer-focused Girl Scout since she was in Kindergarten. Throughout the years, she has completed her Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards, the three highest honors a Girl Scout can earn. For her Gold Award, she created a sustainable literacy program in Hillside’s George Washington School. She created an ongoing book swap, created monthly newsletters, and held monthly book club meetings for the students. In high school, in addition to a heavy course schedule of AP and honors classes, Katie has had academic success while also managing the varsity swim team and volunteering with the Mountainside Local Youth Group, the Red Cross, Relay for Life, Operation Smile, and Link Crew where she led and aided freshmen in transitioning to high school. Recently, Katie has been meeting with state and local officials and participating in non-violent walk-outs and marches in support of stricter gun reform and regulations and creating safer schools.
Sama Manchanda is a rising Junior at USC studying Computational Neuroscience with a minor in Applied Computer Security. Sama is involved in conducting research at the Signal Analysis Interpretation Laboratory (SAIL) at USC as well as taking part in clubs like 3D Printing for Everyone (3D4E) and Corpus Callosum, a club devoted to exploring art in engineering. Through 3D4E, she had the opportunity to teach the basics of Computer Aided Design and 3D printing to kids of all ages in the Los Angeles community as well as show how 3D printed objects can be a useful learning tool in classrooms. On breaks, Sama volunteers for the Berkeley Heights Volunteer Rescue Squad as an associate Emergency Medical Technician. Last summer, she also coordinated a robotics program for middle school and high school aged kids in Newark through the StreetSquash New Jersey program in an effort to teach them the basics of programming and robotics and encourage them to pursue those fields in the future.
This summer, Sama will continue volunteering with the Rescue Squad and will also be working as an Information Security intern with the Interpublic Group in New York City.
The Shirley Wight Keeney Voluntarism Scholarships are awarded annually by the Junior League of Summit to local, graduating seniors. The scholarships’ namesake, Shirley Wight Keeney, was a beloved member of the Junior League of Summit and the Summit community. As an active volunteer, Ms. Keeney truly demonstrated the League’s Mission of promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through effective action and leadership.
This year, the Junior League of Summit introduced a new Continuing Education Scholarship, which is an award given to an adult woman who has demonstrated a commitment to voluntarism in her community and is pursuing additional education or certification.
The Junior League of Summit is a nonprofit, charitable, and educational organization of women who are committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. For more information about the Junior League of Summit or to inquire about becoming a member, please visit the website at www.jlsummit.org or contact the office at 908-273-7349.
(above) Leila Esposito of Summit, recipient of the Shirley Wight Keeney Voluntarism Scholarship, will be attending Catholic University of America.
(above) Katie Zimmermann of Mountainside, recipient of the Shirley Wight Keeney Voluntarism Scholarship, will be attending Elon University.
(above) Sama Manchanda of New Providence, recipient of the Continuing Education scholarship, is pursuing a degree in Computational Neuroscience with a minor in Applied Computer Security at the University of Southern California.
