WMHS Senior Honored At Italian-American Heritage Month Event

WOBURN, MA — Alexa Dhaliwal, a senior at Woburn Memorial High School, was presented with the October Italian-American Heritage Month (OIHM) Founders Scholarship earlier this month at a ceremony at the Massachusetts State House in Boston.

Dhaliwal is an AP Italian language student and received the award from CASIT, the organization that promotes the study of the Italian language in schools in the jurisdiction of the Italian Consulate, which is located in Boston.

The Italian Heritage Month Committee selected the winners of the scholarship.

October is National Italian-American Heritage Month, and the Oct. 2 ceremony at the State House marked the 34th annual celebration.

Dhaliwal was joined at the ceremony by WMHS Italian teacher Cinzia Gilbertie and WMHS Principal Daniel Rasanen. Dhaliwal received the award in the presence of Arnaldo Minuti, the consul general of Italy in Boston, State Rep. Richard Haggerty and Ronald Mariano, speaker of the Massachusetts State House.

Also present at the ceremony were LT. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Boston Mayor Kim Wu.

National Italian-American Heritage Month was first recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1989 as a tribute to all Italian-Americans' contributions to the nation, and to highlight the cultural impact of the Italian-American community.