Historical Society Selects Scholarship Recipients

The Ellwood City Area Historical Society is pleased to announce the winners of the Robert and Janice Barensfeld and the Marlene Painter scholarships.

Eleven students from Lincoln and Riverside High Schools submitted essays for these grants. The scholarships are available to any high school senior living in the Ellwood City area regardless of the school they attend. Seven students wrote about “A Prominent Person of the Ellwood City Area” for the Barensfeld award, established in honor of long-time prominent Ellwood City citizens Robert and Janice Barensfeld. Four students penned an essay on “Why I Want to be a Teacher” for the Painter Scholarship, awarded in honor of the late Marlene Painter, who was a teacher.

The four recipients were selected from the eleven excellent entries by the Society’s Scholarship Committee of Kaye Houk, Angela Hyde, Barbara Mastropietro, and Mary May, all former teachers, and chaired by Past-President Everett Bleakney. This year’s Barensfeld Scholarship will be awarded to Alexis Fluharty and Jonathan C. Nelson. The Painter Scholarship was won by Emma C. Thellman and Jacob Storey-Smith. All four winners are from the Riverside School District.

The Historical Society began awarding scholarships in 1999 with the Robert T. Jones Family Scholarships. Since then, the society has offered $106,000.00 to help Ellwood City Area students further their education. Generous funding by the Barensfeld and Painter families will add $6,000.00 to that total this year.

The Scholarships will be awarded to the recipients in a ceremony this Monday, May 13, 2024 at the regular monthly meeting of the Historical Society, 7:00 p.m. at the History Center, 310 5th Street in Ellwood City.

The awardees will read their winning essays and be presented with their awards by Mr. David Barensfeld and Mr. Dick Painter and photos will be collected to publish!

The meeting is open to the public. Door prizes will be awarded and refreshments will be served.