Twenty-four graduating high school student-athletes, representing Harford County's 12 senior classes, will be honored at the 30th annual Al Cesky Scholarship Fund's (ACSF) awards banquet. The banquet, honoring the legacy of the late Al Cesky, a legendary Bel Air High School football coach and educator, will be Wednesday at the Richlin Ballroom at 6 p.m. Tickets are $40 each, with a student price of $35. Call (410) 838-6787 for further information.
Two of the scholarship winners, one male and one female, will receive scholarship awards of $5,000 each from the ACSF to help defray the cost of their post-secondary education. The remaining 22 winners will each receive $2,000 scholarships for a combined total of $54,000. Nominations are based on the graduating high school students' academic and athletic achievements along with demonstrated leadership, community service experience and financial need.
The guest speaker will be Sean McCone, a former Cesky award winner and ACSF, Inc. past president, who is an engineer and vice president of Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc.
Sportscaster Scott Garceau will be the Master of Ceremonies.
Of the 12 young men and 12 young women being honored, all intend to further their education. Eleven are three-sport athletes and 20 served as team captains at the varsity level. Thirteen earned All-County honors, three earned All-Conference recognition and two were recognized with All-Metro or All-State accolades.
Academically, 21 nominees are Distinguished Honor Roll students and 20 are National Honor Society members. Seven have earned recognition as Advanced Placement Scholars and two are National Merit Scholars.
Nine students are members of the school band, orchestra, or choir and two have been involved in drama or musical productions. Four students serve on the staff of the school newspaper or yearbook and 14 are active in student government affairs. Two young men are Eagle Scouts.
All of the winners are service volunteers in their schools, churches or community. Besides their academic studies and extracurricular activities, almost all work part-time, including jobs as referees, youth coaches, camp counselors, lifeguards, baby sitters, food service workers and retail staff.
Selection committees within the individual schools nominated these 24 scholarship recipients. The ACSF selection committee then anonymously reviews the applications submitted, using these same criteria, to select the two $5,000 winners.