Every year the Sparta V.F.W. Post awards thousands of dollars in scholarships in honor of Korean War Veteran Ralph Rojas. There are fundraisers all year that go toward these scholarships. To be eligible for a scholarship students must be a Sussex County veteran, a spouse of a Sussex County veteran, a dependent of a Sussex County veteran or a Sussex County high school student accepted into an ROTC Program. This year's scholarship awards totaled $16,000. The winners chosen by the Sparta VFW Scholarship Committee were:
Newton High School Senior Julia Decker whose father and uncle are U.S. Navy Veterans.
Newton High School Graduate and National Guard Infantryman William Morrison. Who is currently a student at Montclair State University
Pope John High School Graduate and U.S. Air Force Cadet Colin Mills. Who is taking aerospace technology classes at the University of Oklahoma.
Sparta High School Senior Olivia Enderle. Her father served 28 years in the U.S. Navy, Olivia will be a pre-med student at the University of Scranton this fall.
Kittatinny Regional High School graduate Kaitlyn Benes currently a student at The University of New Haven. Her father is a U.S. Navy Commander and her grand father was a U.S. Marine.
Sparta High School graduate Olivia Finkeldie who attends Colgate University. Her father John served in the U.S. Marines for 21 years.
Sparta High School senior Jack Maraziti who will be starting classes at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point this summer. Jack's uncle and great-grandfather were U.S. Marines.
Congratulations to all of these wonderful young people and their families.
Source: Teresa Sellinger Sparta VFW
Sparta VFW Ralph Rojas Scholarship WinnersPhoto: Teresa Sellinger