2019 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Sarah Koljaka, a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall, was the winner of Branford Rotary’s top “Service Above Self” $3,000 scholarship for 2019.
Sarah, the daughter of Enejda and Franc Koljaka, is attending the University of Chicago on a pre-med track.

“Sarah’s academics are well balanced by a mature, generous and down-to-earth personality,” said Rotary Scholarship Committee Chairman Anthony Terry. “Her accomplishments are extensive, but her willingness to give back, by mentoring, teaching, leading, and volunteering, show Sarah to be an amazing young person with unlimited potential.”

John Leigh, who attended Sound School in New Haven, and Branford High’s Max Warner, each received $1,500 scholarships from the organization.

“John Leigh most impressed us with a natural capacity for defining and undertaking projects, and making his own decisions from early years onward, including an application and transfer to The Sound School to study Marine Biology during his high school years,” said Terry. “Perhaps it was training received in the regimens of the Boy/Eagle Scout programs, but he’s a natural fit, and these attributes will carry him through whatever he pursues.”

Warner also impressed the committee.

“This year we had an extraordinary and diverse field of applicants, and each excelled in multiple aspects of their high school career, but no one, either this year or the past several I recall, has exemplified the ideal of service the way that Max Warner has,” Terry said. “During our interview with him he clearly described a transformation within himself, brought about by his hard work and commitment to the cause of coaching and guiding the development of others.”