Five PV students in the Italian Honors program were awarded Italian scholarships on May 16. The students that won were honored for the leadership they’ve shown in learning and teaching the Italian language and its culture.

The “Passing the Torch” scholarship was awarded to senior Kasane Tonegawa, junior Matthew Novakowski, and sophomores Meghan Haggerty, Giovanni Liguori and Britany Diaz.

“Passing the Torch” is given out to students from the Coccia Foundation at Montclair State University. The MSU Italian program is one of the best in the tristate area.

“They [the students] have to have a strong commitment in promoting the Italian language and culture both within the school and the community,” said PV Italian teacher, Signora Borghi. “All of them are teachers in the program, Italian Language Explorers, so they actually teach Italian to elementary school kids in our district. That is how they are contributing in “Passing the Torch.”

To qualify for this scholarship, students have to excel in all three forms of communication in Italian: interpersonal, presentational, and interpretive.

Borghi makes it clear that the students that won these scholarships are very committed and spend a lot of time outside of school teaching and promoting Italian.

To be nominated, the students have to have outstanding character and work ethics. No matter how many commitments these students might have with extracurricular activities or family, they make time to study. It [the scholarship] goes to the students who really show they want to learn and pass down their knowledge.

This is the first year that students were able to receive this scholarship. Schools around the area are allowed to nominate up to five students who they believe deserve this scholarship. All five of the students at Pascack Valley that were nominated won.  

“I just found out via email that I had to come to Borghi’s room on a certain day and I didn’t know why,” Tonegawa said. “I definitely plan on minoring in Italian and using that to study abroad in Florence.”

 All five of the students are extremely passionate about the Italian language and culture. These students were recognized yesterday at the Board of Education meeting at 7 pm. 

“The students who won do not only excel in the language of Italian, but are passionate about continuing the Italian tradition,” said Borghi.