Gishkot Foundation & Kiwanis Club Award Scholarships
The Grishkot Foundation recently partnered with The Kiwanis Club to award $77,500 in scholarships for students pursuing careers in nursing, health care, aviation, and aeronautics engineering. These scholarships are payable over four years of college, and are open to graduating high school seniors and college students from Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties. These scholarships were presented at a meeting of the Glens Falls Kiwanis Club at The Queensbury Hotel.
Each recipient will receive a $2,500 scholarship for the 2023-24 college year, with some recipients receiving continued annual scholarships for up to three additional years, provided the recipient remains in the program of study and in good academic standing.
This year’s recipients of The Joan Grishkot Memorial Scholarships for careers in nursing and related health care fields were:
Samantha Rocco, a graduating senior at Mechanicville High School, who will attend Union College in the fall as a pre-med student majoring in biology.
Sydney Keenan, a graduating senior at Hudson Falls, who will attend Vassar College in the fall as a pre-med student majoring in neuroscience.
Jacqueline Hogan, a Glens Falls High School graduate, who is a medical student at SUNY Upstate at Syracuse.
Garrett Lamouree, a Queensbury High School graduate, who is currently enrolled at Binghamton University and will soon be enrolling at Norton College of Medicine at SUNY Upstate at Syracuse.
Honorable Mentions:
Norah Niesz, a graduating senior at Greenwich High School, who will major in biomedical science at St. Lawrence University in the fall.
Sophia Herzog, a graduating Saratoga Springs senior, who will attend SUNY Upstate at Syracuse in the fall to study for a career as a physician/scientist.
Shauna Mower, a graduating senior at Queensbury High School, who will enroll at Connell School of Nursing at Boston in the fall.
Matthew Shakow, a graduating senior at Saratoga Springs High School, who will study for a career as a dermatologist.
This year’s recipients of The Walter Grishkot Memorial Scholarships for careers in aviation, aeronautics engineering, and related healthcare careers:
Ishan Swali, a graduating senior at Shen High School, who will enroll at Georgia Institute of Technology in the fall to study aerospace engineering and artificial intelligence.
Andrew Hope, a graduating senior at Saratoga Springs, who will enroll at University of Michigan in the fall, with majors in physics and aerospace engineering.
Sahil Swali, a Shen High School graduate, who is studying aerospace engineering at the University of Toronto.
Honorable Mention:
Kara Davenport, a graduating senior at Ballston Spa High School, who will study to become a corporate pilot.
The Grishkot Foundation, which was founded in 2009, this year partnered with the Glens Falls Kiwanis Foundation to administer the scholarship application and review process. The Grishkot Foundation made the final decision on the recipients of the awards: “With 65 applicants, it was a time-consuming process, which the Kiwanis Foundation handled efficiently and expertly,” said Maury Thompson, president of The Grishkot Foundation. “The Kiwanis Foundation developed a scoring system which applied a holistic approach to the review process, factoring in leadership as well as academics.” This scholarship distribution is the foundation’s largest since its founding in 2009.
The foundation added the Joan Grishkot Memorial scholarship program this year. Joan Grishkot – the foundation’s co-founder – passed away on July 8th, 2021. She spent her 31-year career as Warren County Director of Public Health… As a volunteer, Joan served on the boards of 28 regional health care organizations and charitable groups: “Joan recognized the importance of neighbors helping neighbors, and endowed this scholarship fund to invest in the career development of local students for decades to come,” Thompson said. Prior to her death, Joan Grishkot was instrumental in the funding, application process, and awarding of the annual Walter Grishkot Memorial Scholarship program.
Joan throughout her life maintained relationships with the recipients of the scholarships: “Joan’s interest in scholarship recipients didn’t stop with awarding the scholarships. She stayed in touch with scholars or their families and delighted to share their academic progress with others,” Thompson said.
Joan and her husband Walter were best known locally as co-founders and long-time organizers of The Adirondack Balloon Festival, which was first launched in 1973. This event was developed in response to a request for an event that would increase tourism in the area during the fall season.
A volunteer board manages the foundation’s investments and operates scholarship programs in collaboration with the Glens Falls Kiwanis Club Foundation. Information about the foundation and about the legacy of Walter and Joan Grishkot can be found at grishkotfoundation.org.