The Weatherly Area High School Alumni Association recently announced the 2025 WAHSAA Scholarship recipient.

Ava Sahaida, daughter of Joseph and Brenda Esposito of Weatherly, has been awarded the $15,000 scholarship from her graduating class.

Sahaida is graduating in the top five of her class at Weatherly Area.

She is president of the senior class, secretary of Interact Club, vice president of the National Honor Society and vice president of Future Business Leaders of America.

Community activities include: member of the CANDO Student Action Committee, Junior Leadership Hazleton, the Senior Support Team for Junior Leadership; and student representative at Weatherly Area School Board meetings.

Sahaida’s involvement in clubs include: Science Olympiad, Interact Club, Teens Against Tobacco Use, Future Business Leaders of America, National Honor Society, Student Government Association and the Health Careers Club.

She is also a member of the softball and cheerleading teams.

Sahaida plans to attend King’s College, pursuing a career as a physician assistant.

The scholarship fund has been established in the name of the Weatherly Area High School Alumni Association. Investment interest from the fund is only used to provide scholarships to Weatherly Area School District students who graduate from Weatherly Area High School or Carbon Career & Technical Institute.

The scholarship is to be used for extended education at an institution of higher education or a more specialized institution of learning, which shall be approved by the Scholarship Program Committee. Members are Sue Ann Gerhard, chair; Brian O’Donnell, Carol Hill, Barbara Sandt, Angela Gregory, Teresa Barna, Chris Henritzy, Barbara Sipler and Sarah Minnick, guidance counselor.

The scholarship was established in 1998. Previous recipients were: Sarah Hamm, 1998; Raymond Marcero, 1999; Erin Lesko, 2000; Angela Petrone, 2001; Courtney Hadzick, 2002; Lindsey Hinkle, 2003; Kerri Romig, 2004; Jeremy Leach, 2005; James Somers, 2006; Joshua Titus, 2007; Jennifer Miller, 2008; Amanda Bartosevich, 2009; Melanie Clabia, 2010; Mia Cavello, 2011; Matthew Caccese, 2012; Heather Cichowic, 2013; Rachel Moon, 2014; Catherine Strizak, 2015; Muskan Khatiwala, 2016; Breena Coxe, 2017; Samantha Knepper, 2018; Nikki Polivka, 2019; Alianna Hernandez, 2020; Lilli Kunkle, 2021; Richard Ray, 2022; Kelly Michaels, 2023; and Jada Saldukas, 2024.

Other scholarships given by the association and alumni are: $4,000 Wilbur (Tim) Frable Memorial Scholarship — Rachel Rosenlund; $3,500 Harry & Loretta Allison Award — Ethan Darraugh; $1,500 Hugo Paul Family Memorial Award — Kylie Holman; $1,000 Anna Raynock Memorial Scholarship — Izabel Jones; $750 — Mackenzie McGill; $750 — Abigail Teodorescu; $500 — Hayden DiGennaro; $500 — Molly Kislan; and $500 — Ellen Whisler.