Two Hempfield Area High School seniors will received full rides to Saint Vincent College.
Brennen Novotney and Jacob Rzempoluch won the Unity Township college’s 39th annual Wimmer Scholarship Competition, which awards students with four-year, full-tuition scholarships. Christina Andrae, associate director of admission at the college, presented the scholarships to Novotney and Rzempoluch at Hempfield’s high school.
According to Saint Vincent College’s website, the average cost of tuition for the 2019-20 school year costs $35,520. Including room and board, the cost jumps to almost $48,720.
The scholarship is awarded based on performance on a written exam administered at Saint Vincent in the November. To qualify, students must be college-bound and have a minimum 3.25 GPA, 1170 on the SAT or a 24 on the ACT.
Novotney has been accepted into Saint Vincent College’s Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing and plans on majoring in biochemistry. He has also been accepted into Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine’s early acceptance program.
Novotney is an Advanced Placement and honor student, and is a member of Hempfield’s enrichment program, Science National Honor Society and Interact Club. He also serves as secretary of the National Honor Society. Novotney is a member of the cross country and track-and-field teams and has played on the tennis team. He has volunteered at Feeding the Spirit, Outdoor Odyssey, the Salvation Army and at Redstone Highlands senior living community.
Novotney’s parents, Nathan and Theresa, along with his grandfather, Frank, are all Saint Vincent College graduates.
Rzempoluch has been accepted into the Saint Vincent College School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. He is considering studying Spanish.
Rzempoluch is a member of Hempfield’s enrichment program, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society and Interact Club. He also competes on the school’s cross country and track-and-field teams and has served as senior patrol leader in his Boy Scout troop and earned the rank of an Eagle Scout. He is now a registered leader of his former troop.
Now in its 39th year, the Wimmer Scholarship program is based after Saint Vincent College founder Archabbot Boniface Wimmer.
This is the second year in a row two Hempfield seniors have been awarded scholarships through the Wimmer program. Last year, Nolan Fraicola and Sarah Kudrick were presented the scholarship, and planned on studying math and computer science, respectively.
