Marblehead Rotary Celebrates 6 Scholarship Recipients

MARBLEHEAD, MA — The Marblehead Rotary Club celebrated its six scholarship winners chosen for their outstanding academics, leadership, community service and extracurricular activities.

These scholarships support one of Marblehead Rotary Club's goals of assisting local students in pursuing their studies at higher education institutions. This year's recipients are Sophia Nickolas, Tariq Abdelkahlek, Benjamin Khan, Alexis Earp, Grace Miller, and Owen Murphy.

The Marblehead Rotary Club awarded the four-year Randolph E. and Barbara K. Goodwin Memorial Scholarship to Grace Miller.

A National Merit commended scholar and in the top 5 percent of her class, Miller received multiple awards for excellence, including the Penn Book Award — presented to a student who has demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, leadership, service, and character.

Miller excelled in soccer and track, co-captained the outdoor track team, and was recently named the 2022 North Shore Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year. For five years she helped with the Northeast Rovers, a soccer program for kids with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Miller was president of the National Art Honor Society and led multiple art projects and shows, including a Memory Project to benefit orphans in Sierra Leone. She was also co-president of Marblehead High School Interact where she organized meaningful local and global projects such as sending supplies to Ukraine, fundraising for Massachusetts Special Olympics, and assisting the elderly in our community.

She plans to enter UCLA to pursue a career in environmental guardianship through the field of scientific studies and policy advocacy.

Owen Murphy is this year's Donald Humphreys Memorial Rotary Scholarship recipient.

This annual scholarship is named after Donald Humphreys, a World War II Marine Veteran who served in Guadalcanal. As a retired and regular citizen, he was known as "Mr. Marblehead," a passionate Rotarian, and a great friend to many in our community.

The scholarship is awarded to outstanding students who have a military family connection to honor Don Humphrey's military career and legacy. Murphy was not only hard working and passionate about learning, but his stepfather, Kurt Vied, had a distinguished career in the Navy as an Intelligence Officer.

Teachers described Murphy as one who constantly challenged himself in both academic and extracurricular areas to increase his understanding and improve his abilities. Murphy was awarded the excellence in literature and critical thinking award last year. He was active in boys cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track teams.

Murphy will attend Belmont University to pursue music production this fall.

Benjamin Khan was described to the scholarship committee as described as Mr. Empathy, who "understands people's emotions, listens intently and responds sincerely to people" — a recognition from his track team that elected him as a captain.

One of the Unified Basketball team co-leaders, he advocated for an opportunity for students with special needs to play with other students on the same team. He was one of the two MHS students recommended by the principal to the superintendent to serve in the Planning for Success, a strategic planning initiative to advance positive culture, diversity, equity and trust in the high school. Khan served as the treasurer of the class of 2022 for the past three years, assisted in fundraising for his senior class's events and was elected as vice president of DECA Club and Treasurer for the Spanish Honor Society.

He plans to attend the University of Michigan in the fall, majoring in economics.

Tariq Abdelkahler was described as the "little engineer" as he always enjoyed creating new things. He was appointed vice president of Cisco security in Cyber Patriot, which took first place at the state level in Virginia. Abdelkhaler was the founder and the president of the Stone Bridge Python Programming Club and a mentor in the school's tutoring program.

He will study at the University of Maryland to pursue a program in computer science.

Sophia Nickolas has been involved in community service projects and took pride in her service involvement at hospice, shelters and food pantries. Nikolas was described as tenacious, hardworking, and passionate about the natural world, sustainability, health and nutrition.

A team captain for the soccer team, Nikolas also was a member of the outdoor and indoor track and cross-country teams. She hopes to play soccer in college when she enters St. Lawrence University in the fall.

Alexi Earp's academic achievements and student life reflected a journey exemplifying the qualities of a future leader. She was a member of the Task Force Against Discrimination, chair of MHS Democrats, mentor for Team Harmony, member of the National Green Schools Society, columnist for the student paper, member of Principals' Leadership Council and more.

Earp plays the violin and is passionate about the French language. She plans to continue studying French while pursuing a neuroscience career at Vassar College.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)