Remembering Kyle Pascoe with six scholarship awards

Six students graduating from Delaware Valley High School will each receive $3,000 as the first recipients of the Kyle James Pascoe Memorial Scholarship Fund.

The fund was created by Sharon Marks in honor of her son, a popular classmate who died in a car accident in 2018 shortly after starting his junior year. This June, Kyle would have graduated with his classmates, so these awards are particularly poignant.

Since Kyle excelled both academically and athletically, the awards are given to students in both categories. Noah Sorrell and Shannon Deignan were recognized for outstanding sportsmanship. Jesse Russotto, Haley Guttenplan, Sophia Wood, and Matthew Johnson were awarded scholarships for academic excellence.

For Noah Sorrell, this scholarship has personal significance. Noah and Kyle were teammates on both the football and track teams.

“I knew Kyle since middle school,” Noah said. “It means a lot to me that his name is on this scholarship because it honors him.” Noah plans to major in finance and marketing at Penn State.

Shannon Deignan also received a scholarship for outstanding sportsmanship. She has been a star varsity swimmer and will be competing when she joins the team at Hartwick College in Oneonta. Shannon also knew Kyle well.

“Kyle was one of my best friends,” Shannon said. “Getting this scholarship means so much to me.”

Shannon will major in nursing. “I want to help people,” she said.

The selection committee was also impressed with Haley Guttenplan’s desire to become a nurse. Haley said she was inspired to do so while caring for her grandparents, who took such good care of her.

“I want to pay it forward,” she said. “It’s important to me, that feeling of being helpful to someone else.”

Haley works part-time at a pharmacy and will be attending Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y.

Jesse Russotto earlier was awarded a Sydney Fluck Scholarship. He said, “I was shocked, yet delighted, to see that I was the recipient of another scholarship. The amount of help this is going to give me is greatly appreciated, and I cannot express my gratitude enough.”

Jesse plans to attend Temple University, where he will major in biology. He says the inspiration came from taking Mrs. Pope’s 11th grade AP Biology class.

Upon hearing the news, Sophia Wood, a proud honor student and varsity volleyball player, said, “I feel like a lot of my hard work has paid off. It’s a huge honor and will go towards my schooling.” She plans to attend Wilkes University as a biology major and become a physician’s assistant in dermatology.

Matthew Johnson is a budding entrepreneur with his own fitness business. He wrote that he plans to be a physical education teacher and eventually earn a doctorate in exercise science. He will be attending East Stroudsburg University’s College of Health Sciences.

Kyle’s mother, Sharon Marks, said, “I feel that the committee chose well. Kyle would be proud of the selections.” She thanked Greater Pike Community Foundation and gave a nod to County Waste and to the community for their support and to the school district and students who helped raise funds last year.

“I’d also like to thank the school for remembering Kyle in the yearbook as part of the 2020 graduating class,” she said.

Marks said she intends to continue raising funds for yearly scholarships moving forward. “I want Kyle’s memory to live on,” she said.

Jenni Hamill, executive director of Greater Pike Community Foundation said, “We’re greatly honored to be a part of awarding the first ever Kyle James Pascoe Scholarships this year, and I would like to congratulate the talented winners and wish them success in their next chapter of life. I hope that they find inspiration in the love and dedication expressed by Kyle’s mother Sharon in making these awards possible.”

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