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CIAO in The Lima News

CIAO Scholarship Banquet 

May 16, 2018

Knights of Columbus Hall

Seated l-r: Karis Wilson, Gabrielle Goecke, Madison Langhals, Alexa Hawk, Kylie Guagenti, Nikiyja Carter, Faith Gossard, Savannah Meeker. Standing l-r: Ethan Mangette, Joseph Sanchez, Michael Johnston, Nicholas Azzarello and Nicholas Dove

CIAO awards $12,000 in scholarships

LIMA — The Charitable Italian American Organization of Lima (CIAO) awarded its 2018 scholarships at its awards banquet held May 16 at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

The organization awarded $12,000 in scholarships, $1,000 to a student from each school from which it received an application.

Italian heritage is not a requirement for CIAO’s scholarships or its charitable giving. To qualify, the student must be a graduating senior from a school in or a resident of Allen County. He or she must hold a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA, submit official transcripts and ACT or SAT scores, two letters of recommendation from a school faculty member and a member of the community, a written essay, and a list of achievements, awards, community service, employment, clubs and extracurricular activities.

Scholarship recipients included Nicholas Azzarello, Nikiyja Carter, Nicholas Dove, Gabrielle Goecke, Faith Gossard, Alexa Hawk, Michael Johnston, Madison Langhals, Ethan Mangette, Savannah Meeker, Joseph Sanchez and Karis Wilson.  A 13th $1,000 scholarship, the John and Gena Mongelluzzo Scholarship was funded by the Mongelluzzo family and awarded to Kylie Guagenti.

In keeping with tradition, CIAO also awarded its Service Above Self Award. This award is presented to CIAO members who go above and beyond to help the organization uphold its motto, “Our family helping others.” This year’s honor was presented to founding members, Joseph and Beatrice Zuppardo.  

Service Above Self winners, Bea and Joe Zuppardo with CIAO President, Doug Wise

For more than 30 years, CIAO, formerly UNICO, has raised funds to donate to local worthy causes and award college scholarships to Allen County high school graduates.CIAO holds two major events each year, its Reverse Raffle and Designer Purse Bingo to raise funds to support its charitable giving.