Three Edwardsburg graduates awarded scholarships from chamber

Published 9:58 am Thursday, June 20, 2019

EDWARDSBURG — Three graduating seniors from Edwardsburg High School were awarded with scholarships from the Edwardsburg Area Chamber of Commerce.

Elizabeth Ann Ojeda, Grace Vankirk and Chase Sager were all awarded scholarships by the Edwardsburg Area Chamber of Commerce at the chamber’s monthly lunch meeting on June 5.

“It was quite a process. We had 12 applicants apply for the scholarship. We looked at grades, what activities they were involved in, and they also had to write essays. We had some really great candidates but we could only choose three,” said Roseann Marchetti, ambassador for the Edwardsburg Area Chamber of Commerce.

Ojeda will be attending Southwestern Michigan College in the fall for two years and then hopes to attend Kendall College for business. Vankirk will be attending Adrian College in the fall where she plans to major in elementary education. Sager will be attending Saginaw Valley State University where he also got a scholarship to play football.

“It was one of those things where the board said, ‘let’s give away two scholarships,’ but we couldn’t figure out what one to not give a scholarship to, so we ended up giving three away,” said Roy Smothermon, president of the Edwardsburg Area Chamber of Commerce.

Also at the meeting, the chamber talked about the Edwardsburg Vision Project’s Second Visioning Session, which will take place on June 25. Michigan State University will lead the community in the second of three sessions in generating ideas for planning and design and to build consensus in making Uptown Edwardsburg welcoming, vibrant, attractive and thriving. Michigan State is returning with suggestions and ideas gathered from the community’s input at February’s first session and from their picture-taking visit in April.

“We want as many people as possible there. The social hall holds 250 people, and if we get 250 we’ll take them. We’re not going to turn anyone anyway. Everyone will be involved,” Marchetti said.

The visioning session will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. June 25, and it will take place at Our Lady of the Hall, 24832 US-12 in Edwardsburg. To RSVP, email admin@edwardsburgchamber.org or call (574) 215-6527.

Smothermon also talked about how Memorial Day was a success for Edwardsburg.

“It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We had 19 food vendors, a bounce house and a dunk tank. People were buying food from all 19 vendors. It was a great day and we can’t wait for next year,” Smothermon said.

The next Edwardsburg Area Chamber of Commerce meeting will be at noon Aug. 7.