By Ana Rodriguez Soto - Florida Catholic newspaper
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski poses with $ 5,000 scholarship recipient Vanessa Perez-Robles, of Our Lady of the Lakes School in Miami Lakes, and her family, from left: Sister Gabriela, mom Yibis Perez-Robles and dad Robert Hochfelder.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski poses with $ 5,000 scholarship recipient Christodoula Shiahinian, of All Saints School in Sunrise, and her mom, Sandra Coello.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski poses with $ 5,000 scholarship recipient Samantha Ulaje, of St. Louis Covenant School in Pinecrest, and her aunt, left, Leticia Giacalone, and mom, Olivia Ulaje, right.
MIAMI | Three girls with dreams are now closer to realizing them because of the generosity of the Miami Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women.
Eighth-graders Vanessa Perez-Robles, Christodoula Shiahinian and Samantha Ulaje were this year’s recipients of the annual scholarship given out by the women’s group — and now renamed the Lucy Petrillo-MACCW Scholarship for the council member who came up with the idea.
Petrillo, a member of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary-St. Richard, died last July after chairing the scholarship committee from 1997 to 2013.
The scholarships are aimed at helping eighth-grade girls who want to continue their education in a Catholic high school. The money is given out based on an essay submitted by the girls, along with academic excellence and financial need.
Each girl received $5,000 this year:
- Vanessa, who is graduating from Our Lady of the Lakes in Miami Lakes, will be using it to attend Msgr. Edward Pace High School.
- Christodoula, who is graduating from All Saints in Sunrise, will be using it to attend St. Thomas Aquinas High School.
- Samantha, who is graduating from St. Louis Covenant School in Pinecrest, will be using it to attend St. Brendan High School in Miami.
“This is very good for us,” said Olivia Ulaje, Samantha’s mother. “Since she was three years old she has been studying at St. Louis. Thanks be to God, she will be able to continue studying in a religious school.”
Ulaje’s husband, the gardener at St. Louis for 19 years, died in November 2014.
“He always would encourage her in her studies,” said Samantha’s aunt, Leticia Giacalone. “And this honor is dedicated to him.”
“That was a wonderful gift from God,” said Sandra Coello, Christodoula’s mother.
She said when she heard about the scholarship she told her daughter, “Go for it, because God’s going to give it to you.”
Coello is a single mother. In addition to Christodoula, she has a four-year-old son.
“It’s very hard. But I’m very happy because whatever I spend (on Catholic education) I don’t regret it. I have a beautiful daughter,” she said.
After high school, Christodoula hopes to study law and become a judge.
Vanessa is even more focused. In her essay she wrote that she wants to go to Cambridge, obtain a doctorate in neurological science and ultimately “find a cure to neurological deficits such as blindness.”
“It’s the most important thing for her to get a Catholic education,” said her father, Robert Hochfelder. “It’s absolutely vital.”
