Graduating San Benito High School senior Caleb Gesek is the
recipient of the largest scholarship available to SBHS
students.
Graduating San Benito High School senior Caleb Gesek is the recipient of the largest scholarship available to SBHS students.
Barbara Sabbatini set up the Frank Sabbatini Memorial Scholarship this year in memory of her husband. The scholarship sets aside $25,000 for a student – $5,000 each year for five years.
Gesek will receive the first $5,000 and must reapply for the scholarship each year. Other students can also apply for the remainder of the funds.
“He (Frank Sabbatini) was very involved in causes. I know Frank would be pleased that somebody needed a boost,” Barbara Sabbatini said.
Frank Sabbatini, who died four years ago, was a county supervisor for 24 years and was involved in bringing the San Felipe Water District to the city in the early 1960s, Barbara said.
Gesek, salutatorian of the class of 2003, was given the award Thursday at SBHS’s Senior Awards Night. He was chosen from 30 applicants by a scholarship committee at the school, said Jeanie Churchill, career advisor in the school’s Career Center. The committee is comprised of 11 teachers and counselors, who also decided the recipients of four other scholarships.
Barbara Sabbatini let the school decide how to pick the recipient. Applicants were required to be SBHS students with a minimum 3.0 GPA and be bound for a four-year university, two-year college, vocational or technical school, Churchill said.
“I thought it was so wonderful and how generous of this person,” Churchill said. “It’s a great opportunity for one of our students.”
Gesek will attend the California Institute of Technology, where undergraduate tuition is about $21,000 per year, according to the university’s Web site.
