From left are scholarship winners Nick Paris, Nate Gipe, Diana Marsala, and Jillian Ritchey. Photo by Phil Custodio

Nick Paris, Nate Gipe, Diana Marsala, and Jillian Ritchey have been awarded $1,000 Clarkston Optimist Club Henry Richardson Scholarships.
Paris is set to go to the University of Michigan to study computer science. He joined Clarkston High School’s Optimist Club as a junior, and was president of the club his senior year.
“He did that in spades,” said Gerry Schmidt, Clarkston Optimist at the June 8 scholarship presentation.
Gipe, who is heading to Hillsdale College, wrote a very impressive essay, Schmidt said.
“He wrote, ‘happiness is a choice,'” the Optimist said. “For a 17- or 18-year-old to realize this is really cool.”
Marsala, who will study at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall, showed leadership while mentoring youth in robotics.
Ritchey, who will study math and computer science at the University of Chicago, has won national honors in computer coding competition, among many other awards and recognition.
– Phil Custodio