Mother Of Victim Presents Memorial Scholarship To New Milford Student

NEW MILFORD, NJ — In remembrance of New Milford High School graduate Darren Drake, who was killed in an terrorist attack in October 2017 in New York City, Drake's mother Barbara presented a $2,000 memorial scholarship to newly graduated Anthony Scrivanich at a ceremony earlier this month, a Friday news release said.

A memorial fund was established for Drake, after he was one of eight people struck and killed by a motorist who was driving down a bicycle path in lower Manhattan, and, through the scholarship, the public can continue Drake's "commitment to education and his legacy," the news release said.

New Milford graduate Scrivanich, the scholarship's fifth recipient, plans to attend Lincoln Technical Institute in Mahwah to study heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

"Anthony exemplifies the purpose of the fund to help seniors reach their goals, enabling them to keep alive Darren's spirit and compassion," Barbara Drake said in an email.

Established by a Hackensack nonprofit, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, the scholarship is for high school graduates who are pursuing a trade school degree to work in jobs that struggle to fill openings. Drake acknowledged an importance in meeting a shortage for vocationally trained workers, and the scholarship is intended to honor that, the news release said.

A study released by the Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, a National Association of Manufacturers partner, found manufacturers need to hire four million workers from 2021 through 2030. It also predicts that 2.1 million manufacturing positions will go unfilled, due to a lack of trained applicants.