Scholarships awarded to local students

AWARDING ACHIEVEMENT: In keeping with tradition, the North Central Chamber of Commerce presented two high school students within its footprint with college scholarships during Tuesday night’s awards dinner. Committee chairperson Ann-Mary Currier, center, presented the awards to Gianna Giammarco of North Providence, second left, and Gabriella Baffoni, fourth right. They are joined by Debbie Giammarco and Peter Baffoni.

Posted Thursday, May 21, 2015 12:58 pm

Pete Fontaine

Few high school students have resumes as impressive as Gabriella Baffoni and Gianna Giammarco.

For starters, the girls are ranked number two in their respective senior classes at Smithfield and North Providence high schools. And that’s just one of the many reasons why the North Central Chamber of Commerce presented them with scholarships during the non-profit’s “Night of the Rising Stars” Tuesday night in Smithfield.

“Gabriella is ranked second out of 167 students in the class of 2015 at Smithfield High School,” Ann-Mary Currier of theCurrier, who doubles as the Chamber’s Scholarship Committee chair, told an attentive audience. “She has a 4.3 grade point average, and her guidance counselor calls her a phenomenal student and a young lady of great character.”

Baffoni has what Smithfield High officials called “impressive and great leadership skills.” She has been president of the school’s National Honor Society chapter, vice president of the student council and captain of the Lady Sentinels tennis team.

“And I’m told those are only a few of her activities,” Currier said.

Baffoni has been an active volunteer for many events at the high school and St. Michael’s parish in Smithfield. She has worked as an office assistant at Courtesy Cleaners in Johnston and has done extensive babysitting. She plans to attend the University of Connecticut to study psychology and neurobiology as part of a pre-med track.

Giammarco, meanwhile, ranks second in North Providence High School’s 230-student class of 2015. She’ll graduate with a 4.062 GPA.

The daughter of Gary and Debbie Giammarco, Gianna is the Dance Team captain and an active member of her school’s chapter of the National Honor Society. She has helped with blood drives, park cleanups and fundraising breakfasts to benefit the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Foundation.

She is also a tutor at the Stephen Olney Elementary School in Providence and a CCD teacher, lector and Eucharistic minister at St. Anthony’s Church. Despite her academic load and community involvement, Gianna has also worked at a dental office and currently at a restaurant.

Giammarco plans to attend Rhode Island College and major in elementary education with a minor in special education.