Middletown Student Wins Scholarship Honoring Her Good Works

By KAREN WALL (Patch Staff)

June 8, 2015

How do you give back to your community?

Because her brother has Down syndrome, Luisa Rinaudo has “always felt a special connection with those who are developmentally disabled.”

The Middletown High School South student has volunteered more than 1,000 hours to the special needs community, and she also started Just Dance – a bi-annual dance for people with special needs.

Her efforts to help others have been rewarded, as the senior is one of 25 students from across the state who have received a $5,000 Spirit of a Hero scholarship from the New Jersey Heroes foundation. The foundation is spearheaded by Mary Pat Christie, and honors people throughout the state for their efforts to give back to their communities in all manner of ways.

The students were honored last week during a ceremony at Drumthwacket, the governor’s official residence in Princeton.

“We are very proud of Luisa for her achievement,’’ said William O. George III, the Middletown Superintendent of Schools.

Rinaudo will attend at Seton Hall University in the fall, where she plans to major in education, focusing on speech language pathology.

“This is our third year for the Spirit of a Hero Scholarship program and I am continually amazed by the character and commitment demonstrated by our young people in taking on serious issues impacting communities throughout New Jersey,” Christie said.

“From human trafficking and environmental stewardship to STEM education and programs for individuals with special needs, all of our applicants and awardees are doing outstanding work to give back and help improve the lives of others,” she said.

Since its inception in 2013, New Jersey Heroes has awarded $335,000 in scholarship funding to 67 students from across the state through the Spirit of a Hero program.

(PHOTO: New Jersey Heroes Foundation, 2015 Spirit of a Hero recipients)