Knights of Columbus Award Scholarships, Honor Friend

Brick's Epiphany Knights of Columbus Council #8160 held its annual scholarship awards ceremony Wednesday evening, where the council awarded two Brick students with scholarships in honor of a council member who passed away in 2008.

The John Kearns Memorial Scholarship is given to two Brick students - one headed to a Catholic high school, and one bound for college - each year in honor of Kearns, an active council member who helped organize countless charitable and civic events in Brick. The council now holds fundraising events each year in order to provide the $500 scholarships, which are awarded by a committee to students who submit the best essays on a topic selected by the council.

This year's winners were Kevin Reber, who will attend Christian Brothers Academy next year, and Vincent Abramo, who will be attending Montclair State University in the fall. Both students are from Brick and were presented with the award Thursday by Barbara Kearns, John Kearns' widow.

The organizer of the scholarship fund, Bob Hermida, said there was no better way to honor Kearns, a long-time, well-known Brick resident, than with a scholarship fund in his name.

"A goal that John always talked about, his passion, was education," Hermida said. "Education, particularly college education and Catholic high school education, was very important to him."

"John's other passion was youth sports and working with children. So, he really focused on the perfect combination of education and other activities," said Hermida.

Knights of Columbus Council #8160 is based out of , located in the township's Herbertsville section.