Congratulations to our 2022 scholarship recipients!
We were finally able to have a gala celebration in June 2022 to fete our winners from 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22. Here are our 2021-22 winners, shown as they received their certificates. See the pictures and writeups below and watch for news of these outstanding young women in the future!
Gabriella Petrizzo, “Women Entering College”
Gabriella is number one in her class academically at Maryvale High School. She has been accepted to Cornell University to study hospitality management. Gabriella is currently taking a full academic load of primarily college level classes including several hospitality, marketing, and business management courses.
She serves as the student liaison to the Board of education, is president of the International Club, is Musical dance captain, serves as School Improvement Team Student Representative, Editor of both the Yearbook and the Video Yearbook, and Chick-fil-A Leadership Academy Ambassador. She is also a graduate of the University at Buffalo’s Gifted Math Program.
Gabriella has played soccer on the Varsity team since 9th grade. In addition to playing soccer for Maryvale, Gabriella has also participated in Cheektowaga Town Park Soccer, first as a player and now as an assistant coach. She has also devoted many hours to community service at School District events and through the 21st Century Program volunteering to assist elementary aged children in an afterschool program.
In addition to her achievements academically, in sports, and in volunteering, Gabriella has also spent countless hours employed in the hospitality industry. From October 2019 to November 2021, she worked as a Front of House Member and rising to a Front of House Trainer in April 2021 at Chick-fil-A. In November 2021, Gabriella resigned from Chick-fil-A to devote more time to Maryvale School District as a teacher and clerk in the 21st Century program. She has however, maintained her position as a room attendant at Millenium Hotels and Resorts since June of 2021. Over the summer of 2021, she also worked a third job as a crew member at Ted’s Hot Dogs.
Rhiannon Furey, “Women Entering College”
Rhiannon is number two in her class academically at Lewiston-Porter High School. She has been accepted at several colleges and intends to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to major in Aerospace Engineering. Rhiannon is currently taking a full academic load of primarily college level classes including both Calculus and Physics.
In addition to her success in math and science, Rhiannon is also an award-winning artist. She has received a scholarship from Daemen College for winning their “Best Print” award in their 52nd Annual All-High Exhibition. She has also been recognized by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery through their Future Curators Program.
Rhiannon is a member of her school’s Track and Field and Volleyball teams as well as their Science Olympiad Team. She is also Vice President of the Art Club, Co-President of the Spanish Club, and Co-founder of the Lewiston-Porter Lancer Leader Crew which helps Freshmen transition to high school life. Rhiannon has also been heavily involved in community service though the National Junior Honor Society, the National Honor Society, and the Key Club.
Rhiannon first began working as a cleaner for an Airbnb property at the age of fourteen. She has since transitioned to a front desk position at Samana Salt Spa. Rhiannon currently works as a shift manager at Gather American Eatery after starting as a hostess and then developing a training system for new hostesses.
Hannah Gabelnick, “Women Entering College”
Hannah is number one in her class academically at Amherst Central High School. She has been accepted at Princeton University to study Public Policy or Sociology. Hannah is currently taking a full academic load of primarily college level classes including Advanced Placement (AP) courses in Psychology, Economics and Psychology. She also completed four AP courses last years. Hannah also earned a 1550 on the SATs.
Hannah has excelled musically as well as in more traditional academics. She is the first chair French horn in the wind ensemble at her school and has been chosen as an All-State Symphonic Band Alternate as well as being chosen to perform Senior High Area- All State & All County Ensembles. Hannah is also co-director of the Sweet Sixteens, a sixteen person a cappella choir, leading weekly rehearsals, conducting community concerts, and arranging pop music. In addition, she is student producer and an actress for the Amherst Operetta Association.
Hannah has a keen interest in human rights, social justice, and mental health that has been exhibited through both community service and student activities. She is a co-founder and vice president of the Mental Health Awareness Committee at Amherst Central High School which has assisted school administration and students work together to support the school community through the stress of COVID-19 and remote and hybrid learning as well as raised money for Erie County Crisis Services. Hannah has also worked as an unpaid student intern for the Academy for Human Rights Summer Symposium, providing lectures, field trips, and workshops for high school students to develop awareness and inspire activism on the part of human rights and women’s rights. She is also the youth representative (a voting position) on the Amherst Task Force for Healthy Youth and Development. In addition, Hannah volunteers where time in State Senator Tim Kennedy’s office where she has highlighted the Senator’s efforts to increase funding for domestic violence prevention through outreach to college students and a newspaper column.
Besides her many school and community volunteer activities, Hannah also has worked in a paid position for the Buffalo Jewish Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council since May of 2020 as an intern. In this role she worked together with the Buffalo/Niagara League of Women Voters and Buffalo NAACP to create a webinar on the five New York State Ballot Proposals for the November 2021 General Election. She has also developed a webpage within the Federation’s website devoted to the topic of racial justice.
Candice Strahin, “Catalyst for Change”
Candice is ranked ninth in her class academically at Tonawanda High School. She intends to pursue Forensic Psychology in college and has been accepted at several schools including Penn State. During her freshman year, Candice was elected Class President and while she has since stepped down from that position, she remains an active member of the student council. Candice is the Business Manager of the Yearbook and the business manager for the Gay-Straight Alliance. She is also very active in sports including soccer, volleyball, and cheerleading. Candice is also the Drama Club president and Musical Club president and has excelled in chorale and band classes throughout her academic career.
But what made her application stick out for the committee was that seven years ago, Candice and her family were evicted from their home and became homeless. While being evicted, her father who was experiencing drug addiction escaped from police officers who were attempting to arrest him and went into hiding. While this traumatic event could have understandably led Candice to give up on schooling and her future, it has instead served to motivate her.
Not only has she excelled in her academic career and participation in school activities, but she also has made community service, particularly in service to those who have shared similar experiences to her own a commitment. In particular, she helped to organize Christmas for Kids and Rockin’ with Santa to provide Christmas gifts for children who would otherwise go without. The experience has also driven her motivation to become a Psychologist to help both people like her father who are involved in the criminal justice system and children and others who experience the system as bystanders.
From her application, the committee encountered a young woman who has great potential to change the criminal justice system based on her own experiences and to make it more effective in preventing crime and creating a more just society.
Hayley Gannon, “Jacquie Walker”
Hayley Gannon is a resident of Hamburg, New York, and graduate of Hamburg High School currently in her third year of five-year Physician Assistant program at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. She is Vice President of Alpha Sigma Tau sorority and a member of both the Gannon University Society of Physician Assistant Students and Phi Eta Sigma national honor society. Hayler has also maintained recognition on Gannon’s Dean’s list throughout her college career with a 3.88 GPA.
Most important to the Jacquie Walker scholarship, Hayley is and intends to continue to be an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with the Hamburg Volunteer Fire Department. She earned her certification as an EMT shortly after graduating High School having devoted time during her senior year to training. Despite attending college in Erie, Hayley has nonetheless earned the distinction of being one of the top ten responders in the department in 2019 and 2021 through volunteering of her time on weekends and college breaks. In addition to dedicating hundreds of hours to the fire department as an EMT, Hayley has also been generous in volunteering her time to assist with fundraisers for the department and other charities
In addition to her service to the Hamburg Volunteer Fire Department, Hayley has participated in an Alternate Break Service Trip together with eleven other students, giving up her spring break to volunteer in Merida, Mexico. She has also participated in numerous service activities including clothing and food drives, visiting nursing homes, and writing letters to veterans through Alpha Sigma Tau sorority.
Tiffany Gaines, “Olga Lindberg”
Tiffany was born and raised in Brooklyn, never dreaming that she could have a professional career in the arts. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Buff State with a journalism major and a minor in African American Studies. While there, she was active in Tha Ink Club (a poetry and spoken work student organization) and her involvement there remains one of the highlights of her undergraduate years.
She is now a first-year graduate student, heading for an MA from UB. She has moved on to visual art with both volunteer and paid positions. She was the freelance curator for the exhibition DJ Carr: Crossroads at the Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art. In addition, she has volunteered for various committees for Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center and intends to continue her involvement with that organization.
She has worked at the Burchfield Penney Art Center since June 2017, starting as a Visitor Services & Museum Store Associate, and moving up to her current position of Curatorial and Digital Content Associate. At this point she is the only BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) individual in a curatorial position of an arts Institute in Western New York. From 2017-19 she also worked at Buffalo Prep, engaging predominantly minority students in the arts. Her current studies are aimed at a dual career both as an artist (photography, which has interested her for as long as she can remember) and a curator.
One of her first-semester professors stated, “In the short time she’s been enrolled in the MA Program, Tiffany’s academic diligence, her leadership, and her natural writing abilities have impressed all of her professors.” One sentence from her other recommendation also stood out: “Her contributions to the discussions in my graduate theory seminar this past semester were invaluable, and clearly demonstrated to me that Tiffany is on track to achieving her goals of combining her curatorial vision with art-making and will make a significant impact on the cultural landscape of Western New York and beyond.”
She will graduate with her MA in May, 2023. We look forward to seeing her make a difference!
Sophie May, “Olga Lindberg”
Sophie graduated from UB in May, 2022 and intends to continue her graduate work, focusing on Russian geopolitics in the post-Soviet space at Georgetown University, with the goal of becoming a Foreign Service Officer. She is the first UB student to receive a Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellowship, a highly competitive (45 awards out of 1000 applications this year) nationwide program that seeks to attract and prepare young people for careers as diplomats. In addition, she is the campus nominee for the SUNY Chancellor Award among a host of other honors.
In her sophomore year, she created and became president of the UB French Club. One of her recommenders commented “One could run a minimalist French Club with a little cheese, a few films, an occasional visit from an ex-pat. Sophie’s French Club became a destination.” Under her direction, the club held a drive for Afghan refugees who arrived in Buffalo in October after the sudden collapse of their government. During that year she also served as an English chat partner, meeting with international students who wished to improve their English skills.
This past summer she volunteered with Ranked Choice NY, an organization dedicated to establishing Ranked Choice voting in New York. That interest influenced her role as VP of the UB Political Science Association.
Her first paid job was at Wegmans and her six years there have been in many different departments. She was rewarded with a four-year scholarship for her undergraduate years. Her previous experience as a chat partner led her to later teaching children French for the Alliance Francaise. In December 2021 she took on a position as a research assistant for a professor in the French department with her main project focused on exposing the racist pasts of famous individuals commemorated in France. This spring she also began a paid internship at Lippes Mathias LLP.
Her aim is to utilize her French, Russian, German, and Spanish language skills to foster cross-cultural cooperation that can lead to the discovery of common ground. Her professors believe she can do that. Her second recommender said “She rapidly established herself as the leading performer in my Canadian Politics class. She simply excelled in a group of highly talented and motivated upper class political science majors.”
Note – Sophie has decided to accept an opportunity to work abroad, in her field, for the next year. Therefore, she will receive her award next summer when she returns to continue her studies at Georgetown University.