By Allison Caramico
This year, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Scholarship Foundation will offer three new scholarships to graduating seniors.
The Adrian Andrews Memorial Scholarship is a $1,500 award for a student exhibiting character, community service and academic scholarship. This scholarship requires an essay about a specific friendship and how it impacted the applicant’s life.
Andrews, who was a student at the high school, passed away in 1994, the summer before his senior year. His friends have sponsored this scholarship in his honor. “I think it’s a great tribute to Adrian Andrews because friendship is such an important part of high school,” said senior Sam Bebout.
The Italian Club Scholarship awards $500 to three seniors who are members of the Italian Club, have taken four years of Italian, and had an A- average all four years.
The Italian Honor Society Scholarship awards $500 to a senior who is a member of the Italian club. This scholarship requires a one-page essay, written in Italian, about a specific topic or unit in Italian class.
School One raised the value of the two scholarships it offers graduating seniors who went to the elementary school to  $2,000. A new scholarship for a senior who attended Brunner Elementary School and plans to go to a four-year college or trade school is also available. For this scholarship, priority will be given to students who received assistance from the department of Special Services.
The PTA and the Rotary Garbe Foundation are the two biggest sponsors of the scholarship foundation.
“Each scholarship reflects the person or organization sponsoring it,” said President
President Mary Ball Cappio, president of the scholarship foundation.
In addition to the scholarships it manages for other organizations, the foundation also sponsors specific scholarships itself. Funds for these scholarships are raised through Dollars for Students, “a canvassing fundraiser, in which we ask the students who applied to go door-to-door,” said Cappio.
The applications for these scholarships, along with all scholarships from the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Scholarship Foundation, are available in the counseling office and are due on Feb. 15. The applications are reviewed by a screening committee consisting of 14 members who rate the applications based on a rubric.
Last year, the foundation awarded $137,650 to 74 students (both high school seniors and college students) and hopes to award $130,000 this year.  This is the foundation’s 48th year and it has granted about $2.5 million to more than 2,500 students.