BucksMont Chamber of Commerce Awards Scholarships to Three Local Teens

Three local resident high school students were awarded $1,000 scholarships Thursday from the Greater BucksMont Chamber of Commerce.

The winners of the scholarship were Kevin Anderson Jr., 18, of Hatboro, Kaitlyn Rafferty, 18, of Warminster and Fernanda Robles, 18, of Warminster. Each winner received a certificate and a check for $1,000.

Anderson, a senior at , said that he will be studying secondary education and mathematics at Millersville University. Also a musician, Anderson said he hopes to infuse music with his educational endeavors. 

Rafferty was joined by her mother as well as her teachers from the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology where she is studying culinary arts.

“I didn’t think I was going to get [the scholarship],” Rafferty said. “I know that there’s a lot of great kids and a lot of competition.”

Rafferty will be attending The Culinary Institute of America in New York to study bakery and pastry arts. She hopes to one day open her own bakery and confessed that she loves the television shows "Cupcake Wars" and "Cake Boss."

Robles, a senior at , was overjoyed to have been selected or the scholarship.

She will be attending the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia this fall. She plans to study medicine and major in biological chemistry at the Ivy League school.

Scholarship money is raised through an annual chamber golf outing. 

Rafferty, Anderson, and Rodles were required to submit an application to the scholarship committee along with an essay describing why they should be selected. Then, a number of applicants were chosen for face-to-face interviews with the committee and were asked about their goals and life in and after college.

During the interview, applicants were asked a series of questions, including the open-ended question “What quote most inspires you?” Anderson said that his answer was “If you reach for the moon, you’ll land above the stars.”