2017 Gift Of The Heart – Schalick High School

Woodbury, NJ April 4, 2017
For Immediate Release

The law firm of Hoffman DiMuzio has allocated close to half a million dollars to its “Gift of the Heart” Community Scholarship Foundation. Forty-one graduating seniors from Gloucester and Salem County high schools have been selected to receive a $1,000 scholarship for embodying the service ideals of the program. This week, the 2017 “Gift of the Heart” Hoffman DiMuzio Community Service Foundation recipients are from Arthur P. Schalick High School are Mikayla Vega and Zachary Ruhl.

Mikayla Vega

Mikayla explains that her church has played an important role in the development of her interest in community service. Prior to her commitments in high school, Mikayla dedicated much of her time to projects spearheaded by her church. She has visited soup kitchens and served meals at addiction recovery centers. With her youth group, The Way, Mikayla delivered mums to local businesses, participated in church cleanups, and regularly attended meetings.

In school, Mikayla is a member of Interact, a club dedicated to completing community service projects. With Interact, she helped with the Garden Road Fall Festival, amongst other events. One of her favorite projects has been baking pies during the holidays, to be delivered to people dealing with medical issues. While baking the pies was fun, she really enjoyed visiting with the patients they were made for. Mikayla loves that community service provides the opportunity for her to make other people happy.

Aside from her volunteer work, Mikayla also is a member of the softball team, the National Art Honor Society, and her school and church choirs.

Zachary Ruhl

As president of the Interact Club Zachary Ruhl has had numerous opportunities to give back by participating and planning volunteer projects for the community. He helped to plan the Garden Road Greenhouse Fall Festival, beach cleanups in Atlantic City and collaborations with the Ronald McDonald House Charity.

A particularly notable event by Interact was a karaoke night for Relay for Life. By singing, students had the opportunity to raise money for cancer research and awareness. The process of planning these events not only brought needed services to his community but also provided Zachary a means to develop communication and organizational skills that he’ll be able to utilize following graduation.

In addition to Interact, Zachary is a member of Yearbook club. In the past he also has been a member of the track team.

Congratulations are extended to Mikayla Vega and Zachary Ruhl as well as their proud family and friends. Their community service embodies a Gift of the Heart.

Next week’s featured recipients will be from Washington Township High School.

Click here to read more about the Hoffman DiMuzio Gift Of The Heart Scholarship Foundation.

If you’d like to see the rest of the 2017 scholarship winners, click here.