The faces of the future smiled brightly at the Palace Hotel on June 26th. Brighter smiles were on the faces of their parents. It was our Union's 2009 Vito J. Pitta scholarship awards presentation and, as always, it was a very special occasion.

Anyone who was present at the awards ceremony knows that the $328,000 in college grants awarded that day is an excellent investment. The Scholarship Fund was negotiated by former Hotel Trades Council President Vito J. Pitta, for whom it is named, and it has an outstanding track record of success. This year's group of winners is sure to continue that tradition.

Like the 700 previous scholarship recipients, the 41 students who received college grants of $8,000 each this year are sure to achieve many great things in the years ahead. Including this year's grants, a total of $5,928,000 has now been awarded to 741 children of Hotel Trades Council members since 1987. We should add that six of this year's winners, Raymon Ang, Eddie Bejarano, Jenny Chen, Keah Horsford, Amanda Ibrahim and Timothy Kearney, have brothers or sisters that are previous scholarship winners.

Almost 40% of this year's scholarship winners plan careers in medicine or medical science. Other popular fields of career pursuit include business, journalism, and education. One student plans a career in hotel management, where we are sure she will be union-friendly!

And while these are the general goals of the 2009 scholarship winners, many of them are already on their way to achieving great things. Many have already worked as volunteers at hospitals or nursing homes. Others have tutored their peers or have worked in volunteer jobs assisting senior citizens. Some have been involved in political and environmental causes and others have performed volunteer activities in various fields of social work or community organizing.

Activities like these provide a very good preview of what can be expected from this year's outstanding group of students. And a look at the biographies of this year's scholarship winners reveals how dedicated they are and how much they have accomplished at their young ages.

"You make all of us proud," Hotel Association President Joseph Spinnato told the students, as he congratulated them on their awards. He added that as the parent of a child who was once awarded a college scholarship he understood and appreciated the pride felt by the winners' parents who were present.

Hotel Trades Council President Peter Ward was unable to attend this year's scholarship awards ceremony due to the UNITE HERE convention taking place in Chicago, but he was no less enthusiastic than Spinnato in saluting the recipients and their parents.

"These awards are the result of the dedication and hard work of students and parents alike," he said. "We salute all of you for this."

Ward's congratulations were extended to the recipients and their parents by Michael Goodwin, the Hotel Trades Council's Secretary-Treasurer. Goodwin added that the scholarship program is an example of how labor and management can work together to show responsibility to the communities they serve. He noted that both he and Ward hoped that this year's winners would use their education and careers to continue this tradition and to return something to their communities.

Following Spinnato and Goodwin's expressions of congratulations, the awards were presented to the students by Lawrence Momo, Director of College Counseling at Trinity College and the Chairperson of the Vito J. Pitta Scholarship Awards Selection Committee. Mr. Momo told Hotel Voice that he has been involved with the Union's scholarship program for almost 30 years, dating back to the Gertrude Lane scholarships that preceded the current program. He said that it was particularly difficult to select the 2009 winners from the large group of qualified and accomplished students that applied for this year's awards.

The Scholarship Awards Selection Committee is comprised of professional educators. Besides Mr. Momo, the committee includes John W. Buckley, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment, Fordham University; Beverly Fox, Associate Dean of Studies, Sarah Lawrence College; Peter Johnson, Senior Associate Director of Admissions, Columbia University; and Wendy Chang, Associate Director of College Guidance, Collegiate School.

The standards the committee uses in determining the winners include examining all applications that are submitted. Academic records and extracurricular activities are taken into account, as is financial need and several other scholastic and community factors. The Scholarship Awards Selection Committee alone decides the eventual scholarship winners. Neither the Union nor the Hotel Association has any say in the selection process.

Like the 700 winners who preceded them, this year's 41 scholarship recipients comprise an extraordinary group of dedicated and promising young adults. They will make fine doctors, teachers, journalists, lawyers and other professionals. These scholarships show that these students owe some of their success to the hard work of their parents. But the rest of their success is due to their own hard work.

Congratulations to all the 2009 scholarship recipients! And congratulations to their parents, too!