by Keith Gisser, for the Harness Horse Youth Foundation

Westfield, IN — Julia Zenker, the daughter of Deborah Lass and Drew Zenker, has been named the recipient of the $15,000 Gallo Blue Chip Scholarship by the Harness Horse Youth Foundation and sponsor Martin Scharf.

HHYF photo

Julia Zenker has been named the recipient of the $15,000 Gallo Blue Chip Scholarship.

She is a graduate of Port Jervis High School and is currently attending Wagner College in Staten Island, majoring in Philosophy and Spanish, in pursuit of a law degree. She has maintained a 3.9 GPA at Wagner.

A formal presentation by Mr. Scharf will take place this fall.

Zenker, 20, has a wide array of volunteerism on her resume. She has tutored at El Centro del Inmigrante in Staten Island (The Immigration Center of Staten Island), has interned with the Calro Project, been a project aide at the African Refugee Center in Staten Island, and served as Generation Citizen Campus Executive Director at Wagner.

For the last two years she has divided her summer days between being a full time exercise rider at the Schnittker Stable and parade marshal at Goshen Historic Track. She has worked with several other trainers at Goshen since she was young.

Zenker understands the significance of the award.

“I would like to thank Mr. Scharf on behalf of my entire family for offering this incredibly generous scholarship in the name of an equally incredible horse.”

The HHYF will announce the winners of the inaugural Sweet Karen Alumni Scholarship, the Curt Greene Memorial Scholarship and the MHS Scholarship next week.

The Harness Horse Youth Foundation is a charitable 501(c)3 organization dedicated to providing young people and their families educational opportunities with harness horses, in order to foster the next generation of participants and fans.

The Foundation has been making a difference in young people’s lives since 1976, and its programs include interactive learning experiences with these versatile animals, scholarship programs, and creation and distribution of educational materials.

For more information on opportunities through HHYF, or to support its mission, go to www.hhyf.org.