Thursday, July 17, 2025
73 ° Mostly Cloudy
73 ° Mostly Cloudy
Every May, the Women’s Club of Huntingdon Valley hosts its Annual Scholarship Achievement Award Luncheon, a longstanding tradition that recognizes an exceptional female senior from Lower Moreland High School. This year, the event was held on May 15 at the Huntingdon Valley Country Club, where members and guests gathered to celebrate the 2025 recipient, Tamara Kohmann.
Marcia Gutowicz, MD, Chairwoman of the Scholarship Committee and a member for 12 years, introduced Kohmann to the audience and explained the rigorous selection process. “This year was the most applications we’ve ever had,” Gutowicz said. “Typically, we get between 18 and 20, but this year we had 28, each one 8 to 10 pages long.”
Applications include detailed personal and academic information, as well as a 500-word essay with prompts about future career goals, personal influences, and dealing with setbacks. “The essay is so important to us,” Gutowicz emphasized. “We ask them to tell us how they’ve faced dilemmas or disappointments and how they want to impact others. Tamara’s essay stood out for its thoughtfulness and her vision of being a bridge builder.”
The award’s criteria require that recipients must be in the top two-fifths of their class and committed to attending a four-year college, but beyond academic excellence, the club values community involvement, resilience, and a desire to make a meaningful impact.
The committee, which includes Gutowicz, Judy Lopacki, and Barb Colbert, spends three weeks reading and evaluating each application. “We each bring our top three picks to the final meeting, label them 1, 2, and 3, and then discuss,” Gutowicz explained. “This year, it was a unanimous decision to choose Tamara.”
Gutowicz shared that Kohmann, the class salutatorian, impressed the committee not only with her stellar academics, including multiple AP and honors courses, but also with her dedication to service. “She worked on a blood drive, volunteered at the Huntingdon Valley Library, and won 10 different honors and awards,” Gutowicz noted.
Kohmann’s National Merit Scholarship award, a distinction earned by only two students at Lower Moreland High School this year, further set her apart. However, it was her essay that truly resonated with the committee. “She talked about being a bridge builder,” Gutowicz said. “She’s fluent in three languages and wants to study international relations at the University of Pennsylvania.
Gutowicz described how Kohmann gave credit to the Women’s Club of Huntingdon Valley in her speech at the luncheon, “and we were delighted to see that.”
Kohmann said, “I discovered that the Women’s Club created the Huntingdon Valley Library, one of my favorite places in the district between reading, studying and working on college applications, I’ve spent countless hours in the library, and it is amazing that a group of dedicated women made this possible…”When I grew up I want to stay interconnected with the community and give back to my district.”
Kohmann’s commitment to returning to Huntingdon Valley to give back touched many in the room. “Above all,” she added, “I was honored and grateful to be chosen by such a special group of women. They thought I could carry out their mission of giving back to the community, and I hope to one day be like them.”
Kohmann, whose mother is from Eastern Ukraine and father from Germany, shared her hopes of using her multicultural background to foster understanding and peace. “I want to use my skills and facilitate interactions between nations,” she told attendees. “I have a long-term hope of making a meaningful contribution in even the smallest way to fostering peace in our world.”
Reflecting on the luncheon, Kohmann said, “It was incredible. All the women were so nice, sweet, and encouraging. I felt so special being included, and I’m so grateful for this scholarship. It means I’ll have less to worry about financially, giving me more time to focus on my studies and explore clubs that could contribute to my future.”
The annual scholarship award is the club’s biggest fundraising goal each year and has a long tradition, with the first award given in 1958. “Yes, the WCHV is quite a group,” Gutowicz said in her luncheon remarks. “This is a club of 74 years that believes in the best human values: selflessness, humility, teamwork, and discipline.”
Before concluding the luncheon, Gutowicz offered words of advice to Kohmann and future recipients. “Be yourself,” she said. “Embrace constructive criticism; it’s how you grow. Healthy competition is good. And finally, keep in touch. We ask all our scholarship winners to send us an email, and we publish it in our monthly newsletter for all our members to see. You are now a part of our group and always will be.”
