Berks charity rewards more students who've overcome challenges
Jun. 14—It was the summer before Sarala Martin's junior year at Wilson High School when she got the news that would change her life in so many ways.
She learned that her mom, Barbara Hanlon, had been diagnosed with a GBM brain tumor — the most deadly type.
But when she heard that her mom was unlikely to survive long enough to see her graduate from high school, it was a concession Sarala wasn't willing to make.
So she doubled up on her coursework, taking all her junior and senior year courses at once so she could graduate this year instead of next, and all while working 30 to 40 hours a week, playing soccer for the school team and taking care of her mother.
Sarala succeeded, bringing her diploma home to West Lawn on June 2 and opening the envelope in front of her proud mother.
She was also one of 10 Berks County students to earn scholarships this year from Berks-based Lauren's Foundation, a nonprofit that awards local high school seniors who succeed despite experiencing challenging and adverse life circumstances.
Supporting families
With this year's awards, the nonprofit reached a milestone.
It has now distributed $100,000 in scholarships since it began 16 years ago in memory of Lauren Fitzgerald of Wyomissing. Lauren, an honor student and athlete, died in 2005 at the age of 20 from complications related to a brain tumor that was diagnosed a year earlier.
The foundation honors Lauren by supporting local families through a variety of charitable funds that support the scholarship program, families with seriously ill children, brain tumor research and organ donation awareness.
Lauren's father, Michael Fitzgerald, a recently retired Wilson School District teacher and founding member of the foundation, thinks back on the many students he's met and stories he's heard through the program and talks about how impressed he is.
"Yet every year, I am still stunned by the challenges some students encounter and their ability to rise above them," he said.
This year 40 students applied for scholarships with the application process that requires they write an essay based on a paraphrased Maya Angelou quote that reads, "I can be changed by what happens to me. I refuse to be reduced by it."
Students wrote about their experiences with significant life challenges and adversity in profound and deeply moving ways, which made it tough to select the winners, Fitzgerald said.
A sense of loss
Fitzgerald noticed a common thread among some of the applicants.
"Sadly, the overriding theme this year was parental loss," Fitzgerald said, speaking of Sarala and several of the others.
For example, Eric DelPizzo, another scholarship recipient and Wilson graduate, spoke about how hard it was after his dad, Frank DelPizzo Jr., was diagnosed with cancer.
"Both our lives changed," he said. "His trips to the car wash became trips to Jefferson University Hospital for treatment. Our breakfast at the West Reading Diner was replaced with leftover donated casseroles. Leukemia shattered the normalcy of my life.
"In school, I was zoning out, fearing that my vibrating phone could indicate that my greatest fear had come to fruition."
Though Frank initially recovered, the cancer returned and he died May 19, but not before witnessing Eric receive his diploma at a ceremony conducted at the family home a week earlier. He also witnessed Eric receive his scholarship award and plaque.
Other recipients dealt with other issues.
Wilson graduate Lina L'Insalata had dealt with serious health problems since birth, but at 15 was still a competitive dancer before suffering her first seizure, which lasted eight minutes and stopped her heart, she said.
"When the paramedics finally came, I was deemed dead for four and a half minutes," she said. "Doctors told me I probably won't walk again, or even live."
She was diagnosed with epilepsy and was left partially paralyzed, so her dancing career is on hold, but she's regained most of her strength and is moving ahead with her life, and graduation was her latest step.
"My future goal is to become a nurse so I can help people like me, people who suffer with chronic illnesses, and just help show them that you can achieve anything you put your mind to," she said.
"I want to be the person that helps change the lives of others and be living proof of what true dedication can get you in life and that giving up is never an option," she said.
Barbara Hanlon feels similarly about not giving up.
She continues to go for chemotherapy, and as hard as some days are, she continues to focus on what's good in her life, including her two daughters.
It was fitting, Barbara said, that the Lauren's Foundation scholarship essay centered around a Maya Angelou poem.
She has long been one of the poets Barbara most admires.
"I actually have part of her poem 'Still I Rise' tattooed on my forearm," she said. "This was done well before my diagnoses. It is a philosophy I and my children live by."
Sarala has proved that over the last year, as have the other recipients, Fitzgerald said, and in doing so, have personified the spirit behind the Lauren's Foundation program.
2022 Lauren's Foundation scholarship winners
Wilson High School
—Eric Delpizzo: $1,000
—Josh Zielinski: $1,000
—Sarala Martin: $1,000
—Amber Skinner: $1,000
—Lina L'Insulata: $1,000
Oley Valley High School
—Abigail Reinert: $1,000
—Julie Weidman: $1,000
Berks Catholic High School
—Chloe Palm-Rittle: $1,000
Daniel Boone High School
—Brianna Le: $1,000
Gov. Mifflin High School
—Jadyn Murray: $1,000
The biggest fundraiser for Lauren's Foundation and the scholarship fund is its annual Fitzy's Halloween 5K, which will be held on Sunday, October 30th, 2022 at Stone House Park, 1216 Parkside Drive North, Wyomissing, at 10:00 am.
Registration is at laurensfoundation.org/fitzys-run/ or at pretzelcitysports.com/onlineform1.php?id=1194.
Donations can be made through the foundation's website, and event sponsors can sign up there as well.
