More Than 100 West Orange High School Seniors Earn Scholarships

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the West Orange Public School District. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Graduating seniors at West Orange High School received recognition for their accomplishments and scholarships for college at the annual Senior Awards Night, held on June 1.

The first part of the evening recognized seniors for academic and community service, along with several scholarships totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. Seniors Breitner Baptiste and Chase Morgan received full US Army scholarships: Baptiste will attend Seton Hall University and Morgan accepted a Civil Prep School appointment to Georgia Military College for one year, attending West Point in 2024. Both will graduate as Second Lieutenants. UNICO distributed 19 scholarships.

The West Orange Scholarship Foundation is currently celebrating its 100th year. According to Secretary Tynia Thomassie, “191 applications were received from the seniors of the Class of 2023, the most ever. 105 seniors received 156 scholarships totaling $115,100, bringing our fund’s support of the WOHS student body to over $1.8 million dollars distributed since 1923.”

Highlights of the WOSF’s distribution included 15 scholarships from the Nikhil Badlani Foundation, nine scholarships from the CJ Morgan Foundation, 16 Principal Scholarships, and 22 scholarships from the Timothy Groves Scholarship.

Recipients were selected for scholarships based on financial need, academic achievement, intended major, participation in extracurricular, sports, academics, and even the elementary and middle school attended.

Senior Mason Bashkoff received a $2,500 scholarship as the winner of the WOSF Logo redesign competition.

Following the awards presentations, Class of 2023 Valedictorian James Tibang and Salutatorian Tyler Harwood received their sashes for graduation, which will be held June 22 at Codey Arena.

Don’t forget to visit the Patch West Orange Facebook page. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here.