St. Croix Hotel & Tourism Association And St. Croix Chamber Of Commerce Award $15,000 In Scholarships

ST. CROIX, Virgin Islands, U.S. - Oct. 22, 2014 - PRLog -- On Tuesday, October 14, 2014, the St. Croix Hotel & Tourism Association and the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce were proud to award $15,000 in scholarship funds to six local students.

Scholarship funds are a partial-product of the annual Holiday Hope Benefit.

This year’s recipients included:

Leila Armstrong, 2^nd time recipient, Colorado Technical University

Areya Christian, 3^rd time recipient, DeVry University (FL)

Rukiya Emanuel, 2^nd time recipient, Pennsylvania State University

Neoshia Poleon, 2^nd time recipient, University of the Virgin Islands

Cathriellah Shabazz, 2^nd time recipient, University of the Virgin Islands

Star Warner, 1^st time recipient, University of the Virgin Islands

Winners received $2,500 each.  The winners and/or their parents attended the Hotel & Tourism Association’s general membership meeting to receive their checks and mix/mingle with the local business community.

Appearing in the attached photo, left to right:  Suzanne Rosbach – St. Croix Hotel & Tourism Assn President, Gerard Emanuel (father of Rukiya Emanuel), Cathriellah Shabazz, Neoshia Poleon, Leila Armstrong, Paul Arnold Jr. (uncle of Areya Christian) and Fran Geocaris – Scholarship Committee / Holiday Hope 2014 Chair.

This year’s Holiday Hope Benefit is scheduled for Thursday, December 4 at The Palms at Pelican Cove.  In 2013, over 2,000 toys were donated to local youth organizations, and the $26,000 raised benefitted this Scholarship Fund, The Boys & Girls Club of the Virgin Islands and CASA of the Virgin Islands.