Three outstanding local students have been selected to receive scholarships from the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber.
 
In prior years the chamber has awarded scholarships to graduating seniors who reside or attend school in Newton or Needham. Newly added this year is a third scholarship to a high school senior in Wellesley. In a highly qualified and deserving pool of close to 50 applicants, the chamber’s Scholarship Committee has selected Chika Udemagwuna, Johanna White and Samone Lumley for this year’s awards.
 
While academic performance and extracurricular activities are important, our committee weighed their decision-making heavily on compelling stories that showed the scholarship would make a meaningful impact in each recipient’s life. The committee also got a glimpse of how these students had to navigate senior year through a pandemic. Between COVID-19, significant events and family dynamics, this year’s scholarship recipients have demonstrated their perseverance through various challenges, stayed motivated and achieved.
 
Chika Udemagwuna graduated from Newton North High School and will be attending Hampton University in fall 2021. Udemagwuna is a leader and an empowered individual who has earned herself a leadership role of Vice President of Newton North’s Black Leadership Advisory Council (BLAC) through her years of involvement in the club. Through this club, she has played a part in advocacy efforts to amplify black voices and culture within the community. She helped create Black Culture Day at the school, which was featured in a Boston Globe article. METCO Engagement Specialist Elvin J. Cardona writes, “I’ve seen her grow from a student that uses her voice to a student that leads with her voice.” Her achievements as a student leader notwithstanding, COVID-19 posed a challenge to her college application process and was disruptive to her learning. Additionally, she had to deal with the loss of her grandfather to the virus at the start of the year, a tragedy that her and her family are continuing to cope with.



Johanna White graduated from Needham High School and will be attending Curry College in fall 2021. She and her younger brother were adopted into her family of five. White’s older brother, an individual with Down syndrome, is a significant influence in her decision to pursue nursing in school. Through him, she learned patience, compassion and care for others. He has also inspired her to give back to her school and the local community by helping fellow students at Needham High with special needs and volunteering at Camp Echo Bridge, where she helped her brother navigate. In and outside of school, White is often seen to be caring for and helping others, especially those with disabilities. She believes that becoming a nurse one day will pay tribute to her older brother for helping shape who she is today.
 



Samone Lumley graduated from Wellesley High School and will be attending UMass Dartmouth in fall 2021. She is a leader with interest in writing and social justice. She identifies herself as “an inspiring mini activist in everyday manner.” Her internship through METCO in 2020 has made an impact in her social justice education and efforts as the internship focused on the de facto segregation in Boston Public Schools. This opportunity allowed her to have a unique experience to teach through her words and actions about people of color throughout the years and how METCO was founded. In this work she recognizes that the segregation in Boston has and still has an effect on surrounding cities and towns. While navigating senior year through the pandemic, she too had unfortunately experienced a loss in a family member to COVID-19 – her father, which has left her and her family in difficult times.
 
The chamber congratulates Udemagwuna, White and Lumley on their achievements and wishes them success in college and all their future endeavors.
 
This year’s scholarship committee was chaired by Arif Bhimani (Middlesex Savings Bank). Members included Alexis Avila (Prepped and Polished), Tamara King (Boston Ballet School), Gillian Kohli (Wellesley Books), Mark Loveless (The Village Bank), Josephine McNeil (U-CHAN), Kevin Ruddy (PTC) and Eric Turner (Lasell University).