The Borzell family presented Wilkes University with a check for $10,000 and awarded an additional $11,900 in scholarships to seven Wyoming Area High School graduates.
The gifts are proceeds from the 2023 John Anthony “Beno” Borzell Golf Tournament. The event, now in its 12th year, has raised more than $236,000 to date for scholarships and facilities that benefit students at Wilkes University and Wyoming Area High School. The event is held in memory of John Anthony “Beno” Borzell, who graduated in 2007 from Wyoming Area and in 2011 with a degree in environmental science from Wilkes.
The $10,000 contribution to Wilkes supports an endowed scholarship in John Anthony “Beno” Borzell’s memory. The gift goes to students studying earth and environmental science at the University. Jeremy Rossi, a senior environmental science major from Hazleton, Pennsylvania, received the endowed scholarship in 2023. An environmental chemistry lab in the Cohen Science Center is named in memory of Borzell. In 2019, the University dedicated a science and engineering classroom on the second floor of Stark Learning Center in Beno’s honor.
The family also presented scholarships to seven Wyoming Area High School graduates who are scholar athletes planning to pursue studies in the sciences. Each student receives $1,700 to commemorate the number 17 worn by Beno as a football and baseball player.
In all, sixty-seven $1,700 scholarships and three heart awards of $1,017 each have been presented to Wyoming Area High School scholar athletes for total gifts of $116,951 since 2012. Contributions to Wilkes since the tournament’s inception exceed $135,000.
The 2024 golf tournament will be held on Saturday, Sept. 21 at Blue Ridge Trail Golf Club in Mountaintop. For details, please email borzellj1717@comcast.net.
