Sept. 3, 2005 — Micah McIntosh and Sheena Williams, both 2005 graduates of Central High School on St. Croix, are the winners of the $2,500 Ruby Rutnik scholarships.
Usually only one $2,500 scholarship is given each year to a student from the school that wins the annual Ruby Rutnik Memorial Softball Tournament held each April on St. John in Ruby’s memory.
Two scholarships were given this year because, though Central was the 2004 tournament winner, a student was never selected to receive the scholarship last year, according to Janet Cook-Rutnik, president of the Ruby Rutnik Scholarship Fund, said.
According to a release from the fund organizers, McIntosh intends to pursue a degree in human resource management at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla., while Williams has chosen a pre-med major at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa.
In addition to the one-year $2,500 awards recently given to St. Croix girls from championship schools, each year since the first tournament in 1997, a two-year renewable scholarship totaling $5,000 is given to a St. John girl.
Valerie Trahan of Antilles School and the 2nd year recipient is Marilyn Callwood — a straight-A student in her second year of college in Florida.
The winner of the $2,500 one-year award for a student attending the University of the Virgin Islands went to Abiola Hodge who is in her third year at UVI on St. Thomas.
To date, $58,000 in scholarship awards has been given out to 14 college-bound Virgin Islands women.
According to the release, the scholarship recipients that are not still attending college have graduated with four-year degrees from the colleges of their choice.
Ruby Rutnik was a senior at American University when she died tragically in a car crash in the winter of 1996. Because of her local fame as a championship pitcher at Antilles School, a softball tournament was established to raise funds for the scholarships given in her memory.