WOBM Christmas Classic Scholarship Recipients 2018

One of the things that makes the WOBM Christmas Classic more than just a basketball tournament is the rewarding of college scholarships for not making jump shots but rather A’s in the classroom.  From when it all started in 1984 we have given participating students scholarships based on their academic performance while in high school.  The first-ever recipient was John Klimkiewicz who led Southern Regional to the championship in 1984 and also led the Rams in the classroom.  It was a good choice…today Dr. Klimkiewicz is a highly regarded Orthopedic Surgeon in Washington D.C. and also serves as the head team physician for the NHL’s Washington Capitals and is the Team Orthopedic Surgeon for Georgetown University Athletics.

As the tournament grew from 8 to 16 to 32 teams so has the scholarship program and this year nine college freshman who played in last year’s tournament will each receive $500 thanks to our corporate partners at Community Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility.  The $4500 will bring the total to over $85,000 given to men and women who fully understand the student part of being a student-athlete. This year’s scholarship recipients:

BOYS

Anthony Argondizza- Brick Memorial/Clemson University (Business)

Mason Augustino-Toms River South/Albright College (Mathematics)

Jack Goodall-Toms River East/Rutgers University (Engineering)

Anthony Silvestrone-Donovan Catholic/Fairfield University (Biology major)

GIRLS

Cassandra Ball-Brick Memorial/Stevens Institute of Technology (Computer Science)

Emily Donzanti-Toms River South/Stockton University

Grace Murphy-Wall-Marine Academy of Science & Technology/Penn State Schreyer Honors College (Information Sciences and Technology)

Noah Smith-Central Regional/Washington College (Art)

Bridget Tobin-Red Bank Regional/Bucknell University Freeman School of Management

The nine will receive their awards from Community Medical Center representatives  at halftime of the championship games on December 30^th at the RWJBarnabas Health Arena.