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   TRiangle Italian American Women's Club

May 2017 Scholarship - Zoe Lukas

 

Our scholarship recipient this year was Zoe Lukas.  She attends Apex High School and plans to attend ECU in the fall to study Communications.

 

This is what the Scholarship Committee had to say about Zoe:

 

Zoe's essay is very memorable and stood out to [the Committee].   She is an impressive young lady, who will be continuing her education in Communications, planning to be on the 'front lines' for her community by serving as an active, trusting voice in the daily news.  She is very interested in helping others and has demonstrated this through activities such as Stop Hunger Now, Cary Teen Council, church food drives and the National Arts Council.  She is on the hand bell and singing choir at her church.

 

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Following is the essay that Zoe submitted to the Scholarship Committee:

 

My Italian Family 

When I reflect back on my childhood, my identity, and my interests, it is difficult to think 
of a situation that doesn’t involve my family in some way.  To give a brief explanation of my family background,  I come from a large Italian family where everything revolves around food, family, and Sunday football games (Go Giants!).  Although we do not all live in the same state,  we try to keep in touch as much as possible.  We try to get together for the holidays and frequent phone calls are of course a big deal.  We always remember to call each other for birthdays,  just to say we’re thinking of you. 

My Italian heritage comes from my mom’s side of the family.  Her father, my grandfather, or my Poppy as I call him is 100% Italian.  When I compare my father’s side of the 
family to my mother’s side it is quite different.  When you think of my mother’s family you think of this stereotypical Italian household that is filled to the brim with family and friends, which are all treated like family.  Big holiday dinners with plenty of spirited conversation is the norm.  The meals usually consist of multiple courses and conversations about the food itself is always a menu item.   My father’s family is surprisingly the complete opposite.  There isn’t as much communication or random phone calls during the year.  On holidays, the whole family, may not get together, due to family disagreements.  Table conversations are much more generic and food is not as important.  Even though there tends to be less family stress I honestly wouldn’t want that for my family when I grow up.  I enjoy the amount of love, warmth, and security that my mom’s family provides me with.     

One of my favorite family traditions is making pizzelles.  For the holidays, my Poppy 
will bring his pizzelle iron either to our house or we would go to his house and spend the 
afternoon making pizzelles to give out to family and friends.  I remember, vanilla, chocolate, licorice, and even orange pizzelles.  My Poppy’s pizzelles never last for long in our house.  My brothers and I devour them pretty quickly.  My mom used to put cool whip between two pizzelles and make a sandwich as a special snack for us after school when we were younger.   So many fun and tasty memories revolve around my Poppy’s pizzelles that I’ll never forget.     

 

Of course, as with every family, even though there is love, life is not always perfect. 
Living in an Italian family is like living in a small town that you may see in the movies. There is always someone around to help when needed, but there is always someone around to also give you an opinion that you may not really want.   Now looking back, I understand.  I realize that I am truly blessed to have a family that cares enough to listen to what’s going on in my life and help me with any problems I may have.

   
In my family I am the eldest child.  I have twin brothers, two years younger than I am.  In 
ten or twenty years, I hope that my brothers and I have the relationship that my mother and her brothers have.  I want someone’s news, good or bad, to be passed throughout the entire family because that’s who the Lukas family is.  Looking back on everything I have done my family was always my number one support system.  They have a way of showing up and meaning the most to me even when I  don’t expect them to.   

The point is that my family is definitely going to do things that I don’t agree with.  They 
are going to share my news, tell my jokes, and try to embarrass me in front of my friends,  but it is okay.  They will also be the first to ask if I’m okay and the first to drop everything to come see me.  My family is my small town.  My family makes up who I am and I owe them a huge thank you for putting up with me and making me confident with who I am and where I come from.   It’s not a bad thing in life to know that you have a town behind you for support. 

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Zoe and her mother, Marisa, joined us for our Scholarship Dinner at Mama Mia's Italian Bistro on May 8th, 2017.  Please enjoy the photos from the evening.