Burnham and Pillion earn four-year scholarships from Nantucket Golf Club
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT WRITER
Anna Burnham and Samantha Pillion are this year's recipients of four-year college scholarships from the Nantucket Golf Club Foundation.

The Nantucket High School seniors were among the ten finalists selected as Nantucket Scholars by a review committee of school administrators, teachers and directors of the Nantucket Golf Club.

In its second year, the Nantucket Scholar program is a rigorous course of interviews, essays and academic and community service reviews that began near the start of the school year.

The awardees were named during ceremonies at the high school Friday afternoon. Both Pillion and Burnham were overwhelmed.

"I think it's the first time I can't put words around how I feel," Burnham said. "This is going to make my world a little easier."

Pillion said the announcement capped four years of academic pursuits.

"I've worked really hard the last four years," she said.

Burnham plans to attend DePaul University and Pillion has been accepted at Wellesley College.

Tom Bresette, clubhouse manager of Nantucket Golf Club, said the decision was no less difficult this year than it was last year, the first year of the program. "They're all just amazing kids," he said. Noting that he has four children, he said: "If my children turn out like any of these kids, I'll be very proud."

PHOTOS BY ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Top: Scholarship recipients Samantha Pillion and Anna Burnham. Above, from left are finalists Leland Rzepecki, Stephanie Norris, Erik Reinbergs, Burnham, Phoebe McKee, Patrick Wynn, Erin Lindsay, Max Detmer, Pillion, Fraser Long.

The initial field of 24 applicants was narrowed to 10 over the school year in a three-round process. The eight other finalists are:

Stephanie Norris, who will attend Quinnipiac University; Leland Rzepecki, who will attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Patrick Wynn, who will attend Salve Regina College; Max Detmer, who will enter UMass/Amherst in the fall; Phoebe McKee, who plans to attend Mt. Holyoke College; Fraser Long, who will attend Barnard College; Erin Lindsay, who has been accepted at the College of the Holy Cross and Erik Reinbergs, who will attend Columbia University. All were active in extracurricular activities and excelled in their studies.

Schools superintendent Dr. Robert Pellicone praised the Nantucket Golf Club Foundation for its support of educational programs, not only at the high school, but at the Atheneum and the Maria Mitchell Association and for helping to fund the "One Book, One Island" program this winter.

The Nantucket Golf Club is also sponsoring an exemplary teacher award for the first time this year. Of 29 applicants, there are nine finalists. The recipient will be named June 5.

The Nantucket scholar review committee consisted of Dr. Pellicone; school committee chairman Susan Genthner; high school guidance director Susan McFarland; high school teacher Michael Horton; high school principal George Kelly; Tom Bresette and Leslie Bresette. The committee's final recommendations were presented to the board of directors of the Nantucket Golf Club, who made the final decision.

Burnham is among the top ten in her class and was co-captain of the varsity basketball team. Pillion is co-editor of the high school newspaper Veritas, served as an athletic trainer and works as an English language tutor.

All ten finalists will be honored at a special reception at the Nantucket Golf Club on May 11.

Last year's recipients, Rachael Schneider and Kelsey Fredericks, are completing their freshman years at Sarah Lawrence College and Connecticut

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