Pictured left to right are the 2015 Fr. Pocetto ACCESS Scholarship winners: Lee Ann Cardona, Gabriella Papuc, Fr. Alexander Pocetto, OSFS, retired senior vice president at DeSales, Bridget Rassler, June Lessard, and Deborah Booros, dean of lifelong learning at DeSales.
The DeSales University ACCESS Program recently awarded five scholarships.
Four ACCESS students, Lee Ann Cardona, June Lessard, Gabriella Papuc, and Bridget Rassler, were recently awarded the Father Alexander Pocetto, OSFS, Scholarship.
Cardona is an accounting major and works for a certified public accounting firm in Allentown. She and her husband Florito live in Bethlehem, Pa. Lessard, who is a compensation and staffing analyst for St. Luke’s University Health Network, is studying for her bachelor’s degree in human resource management. She is a resident of Bangor and has three children.
Papuc, a resident of Freemansburg, Pa., is earning a bachelor of science in nursing while working as an emergency department technician at St. Luke’s University Health Network’s Bethlehem Campus. She has a bachelor’s degree in business from Penn State University.
Rassler is the manager of finance and administration at The Dorothy Rider Pool Health Care Trust and The Rider Pool Foundation. She is majoring in business administration and is a resident of Macungie.
Every year, the Pocetto Scholarship is awarded to students who are current ACCESS students who have taken at least five courses and are in good academic standing. Applicants must also complete an essay that answers the question, “What does the pursuit of higher education mean to you.”
The Pocetto Scholarship is named in honor of Fr. Alexander T. Pocetto, OSFS, retired senior vice president of DeSales University and one of the founders of the ACCESS program in 1976.
Todd Repsher (pictured right, with Booros), a criminal justice major from Bethlehem, Pa., was awarded the David M. Petzold Scholarship. Repsher is a 25-year veteran of the Bethlehem Police Department, beginning as a patrol officer in 1991. He currently serves as a deputy chief.
The Petzold Scholarship is also awarded annually to a current ACCESS student who is a criminal justice major and is in good academic standing. The recipient must also work in law enforcement and have a record of service to the community.
The David M. Petzold Scholarship was established in memory of Officer David M. Petzold, who was killed in the line of duty on November 9, 2006. Petzhold was an alumnus of the DeSales University ACCESS criminal justice program.
The ACCESS program at DeSales has been a regional leader in providing adult education in an accelerated format for more than 35 years. Classes are offered in traditional classrooms, online, or a hybrid of both. Bachelor’s degrees, certificates, or courses for personal enrichment are offered on three campuses, Center Valley, Bethlehem Area, and Lansdale, Pa.