Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce Awards Six Scholarships

Six local high school students were awarded $1,000 scholarships from the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce this year. The 2019 recipients graduated from Croton-Harmon, Hendrick Hudson, Lakeland, Peekskill, Putnam Valley, and Walter Panas High School and were presented with their awards at the Chamber's June breakfast held at the the Factoria in Peekskill.

“Each of our six scholar recipients is a gifted and talented student with a stunning list of accomplishments and extremely bright futures. The members of the chamber congratulate our 2019 winners and wish them the best of luck in furthering their educations. We can't wait to see what they accomplish!” said Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce President Deb Milone.

The scholarships are funded from the generosity local businesses from the chamber's annual Tommy Bertoline Scholarship Golf Outing, held annually in September.

Scholarship recipients are chosen on the basis of academics, leadership skills, extracurricular activities, community volunteering, awards or merits, and work experience. Recipients are determined by the chamber scholarship committee on a non-discriminatory basis. Members of the committee include: Ann Brady, Civic Member, Janice Molloy, Peekskill Education Foundation, Eric Mantell, WCC Peekskill, and Maureen Whelan, Whelan Financial Planning. The Scholarship Committee Chair is chamber events manager Lauren Brady.

Honored for their academic and civic accomplishments were:

Croton-Harmon High School: Raina Thomas

Raina Thomas is a graduating senior from Croton-Harmon High School and plans to major in biological engineering and minor in computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Thomas is a National Merit Commended Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction and was recognized by the Society for Women Engineers when she received the organization's Certificate of Merit and Outstanding Achievement. Because of her love of science, she was selected to participate in the Rockefeller University Science Outreach Program. Raina is the co-president of the National Honors Society and President of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. She has been a swimmer on the CHHS girls’ varsity swim team all through high school and was a sectional qualifier in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Hendrick Hudson High School: Joseph DiBitetto

Joseph DiBitetto is a graduating senior from Hendrick Hudson High School and plans on majoring in Accounting at Villanova University. DiBitetto has become fluent in Italian and is completing Italian Level 5, a college level class before the end of June. He was honored by the Westchester County Board of Legislators for Excellence in Italian for Italian History Month. He is part of the National Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor society, Math Honor Society and Future Business Leaders of America. He is very involved in his community and participates with many local organizations. Joseph is on the varsity tennis and bowling teams at Hen Hud. His ultimate career goal is to pass the CPA and become a certified public account.

Lakeland High School: Jothi Ramaswamy

Jothi Ramaswamy is a graduating senior at Lakeland High school and is planning on majoring in computer science and applied math at Harvard University. She is currently working on creating three apps: one to enable chemistry students to learn buffers, an app to help neighborhoods to report power outages and an app to allow women to get evidence of sexual assault. Jothi founded the 501c3 non-profit ‘ThinkSTEAM’ with a mission to inspire and motivate girls by merging STEM and arts. Since its inception three years ago, she has led over 50 workshops and impacted 1000+ girls. Jothi is part of Daisy Jopling’s Global Music Academy Orchestra, was on the track team, and volunteers at the NYP-HVH as a Junior Nurse Assistant. She recently attended Apple's WorldWide Developers Conference in California on scholarship which gave her the opportunity to present her app ideas to leaders at the conference.

Peekskill High School: Akua Yeboah

Akua Yeboah is a graduating senior at Peekskill High School and plans to major in biology on the pre-medical track at Georgetown University. Yeboah is very community-minded and volunteers for many organizations including Special Olympics. She is also a Youth Health Promoter at Hudson River Healthcare. She is the president of the National Honor Society, Vice President of the Spanish National Honor Society Peekskill High School chapter, President of the 2019 senior class, and student representative for the Code of Conduct Committee for the Peekskill City School District. She plays basketball and volleyball and plays alto saxophone.

Putnam Valley High School: Kaitlin Cohen

Kaitlin Kohn is a graduating senior at Putnam Valley High School and plans to study chemical engineering at the University of Maryland. Through her volunteer efforts in the MAGMAH alternative soccer program, student government and other community organizations, Kohn discovered that helping others brings her great satisfaction and that she looks forward to being able to help others on a greater scale with her degree. She has received many science research and academic awards and is known for her artistic talents. Kohn is the Vice President of the 2019 Senior Class and also plays Soccer and Lacrosse.

Walter Panas High School: Nicole Chiulli

Nicole Chiulli is a graduating senior from Walter Panas High School and plans to major in Neuroscience with a minor in Spanish at Boston University. Chiulli hopes to travel abroad to study neuroscience in other locations around the world. Her goal is to attend graduate school and obtain her PhD so that she can make a difference. Chiulli is a National Merit Scholar Commended student, a member of the National Honor Society, and a member of the Spanish Honors Society. In addition, she was recognized as a NY State Scholar Athlete where she served as the captain of her swim team. In addition to her academic achievements, Nicole is an accomplished artist.