Monmouth Regional Hands Out $80,000 in Local Scholarships

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Bill and Ava Diedrichsen (left) present Jessica Winick, Ana Clara Coimbra, Ellison Barrows and Lea Oliveros with $5,000 each in memory of Erica Lenore Diedrichsen Butterfly Memorial Scholarship.

Tinton Falls – June 11, Monmouth Regional High School held their 2026 senior awards night. Over $80,000 was distributed to seniors, all from local organizations and families. This amount does not include what students received from colleges or universities for academic or athletic scholarships.

It was truly an educational evening, as each presenter gave a special tribute to the person that the award was named after. From the very start, board of education president John Cohen spoke of his late parents in presenting the Irving and Florence Memorial Scholarship.

Eugene Melody spoke of Virginia R. Kopach in presenting her memorial scholarship. Ryan Michelson then told everyone about Michele Chonko in presenting that memorial scholarship. The Madonna family then spoke about Lillian Raye and Sue Madonna in presenting that scholarship. The Eatontown Fire Department, Company No. 1, then spoke about the late Richard Zadorozny when presenting his memorial award.

All the stories of the former teachers and students were very touching. Bonnie Blackman had everyone laughing when she told the funniest

Monmouth Regional Chief School Administrator Brian Evans with the 2026 Valedictorian Aman Amer.

stories of her late husband and former teacher Michael L. Blackman. She gave advice to the seniors saying; “you will hear “No” much more than yes. You have to fight for the yes,” she said.

Then there was the heart breaking story of Erica Lenore Diedrichsen. During her years at Monmouth Regional she was active in sports, cheerleading and was described as the happiest and friendliest person. She could make friends with anyone and made everyone feel at ease.

After graduating from Monmouth Regional, she attended the University of South Florida and graduated with a 4.0 GPA in just seven semesters with a Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences degree. She returned home and was attending Rutgers University working on her Masters in Biostatistics, where she loved to research oncology and clinical trials in pediatrics. She was also working at that time for CityMD as a medical scribe.

April 25, 2024 Erica was preparing to visit her friends in Florida. Her parents, Donna and Bill, heard Erica’s alarm going off and she was not turning it off. When they went into her room, they found that she had passed sometime during the night.

Erica embodied what appeared to be a healthy and very fit young woman. However, it was discovered that she had a rare genetic abnormality, right ventricular cardio myopathy. This has been known to cause sudden cardiac arrest in young adults. Once this was discovered, Donna, Bill and Erica’s siblings Will and Ava were all tested for the condition. They were all clear of the defect.

“All Erica really wanted to do was help people, and make them smile,” said Bill. He added that she was always very focused and driven. “I would have to tell her late at night while she was studying that she needed to sleep.”

Monmouth Regional Chief School Administrator Brian Evans with the 2026 Salutatorian Jessica Winick.

The evening of the wake held for Erica, the line stretched on and one with hundreds showing up to pay their respect and memories. One of the last people in line was a former student who had not seen Erica in years. They both attended elementary school in Eatontown together. The student had immigrated to the United States and Erica was the first to make her feel welcome.

That former friend was wearing a butterfly necklace charm as a tribute to Erica. Donna stated that Erica loved butterflies, and that was the inspiration to start the Erica Lenore Diedrichsen Butterfly Memorial Foundation.

This year, four seniors; Ellison Barrows, Ana Clara Coimbra, Lea Oliveros and Jessica Winick were all presented with a $5,000 scholarship in memory of Erica. Bill and Donna are also very driven on making sure educators are certified in CPR and have the proper equipment in case something tragic occurs.

The night concluded when Brian Evans, Chief School Administrator, announced Jessica Winick as the 2026 Salutatorian and Aman Amer as the 2026 Valedictorian.

Following is a list of all the scholarships and student’s recipients. Additional photos of the evening can be found at www.facebook.com/TheLinkNews

Irving and Florence Cohen Memorial Scholarship

Jaylin Reeves

Virginia R. Kopach Memorial Scholarship

Angela Carter, Ava Diedrichsen, Brady Hennelly

Michele Chonko Memorial Scholarship

Ava Augusta, Ellison Barrows, Ava Diedrichsen, Emma Riccardi

SADD Scholarship

Emma Riccardi

Monmouth Regional Chapter of National Honor Society Scholarship

Hannah Augustine, Ava Diedrichsen, Zavia Herbert, Jacob Kroposky, Mier Shah

Lillian Raye & Sue Madonna Scholarship

Ava Augusta, Jaylin Reeves, Kristiana Thomas

Eatontown Fire Dept. Co. No. 1 Richard Zadorozny Memorial Scholarship

Liam Rea

Eatontown Baseball Scholarship

Brady Hennelly, Liam Rea.

Eatontown Lions Club Scholarship

Lucia Buck, Ana Clara Coimbra, Ava Diedrichsen, Tyler Garrabrant, Jordan Hom, Katie Lezama, Mia Loxton, Liam Rea, Morgan Rescinio, Mier Shah, Siomara Velasquez-Ruiz, Ahtziri Valverde

PTSA Essay Scholarship

Constance Bricker, Ava Diedrichsen, Emma Gianantonio, Shea Prout, Charles Tinsley

Michael L. Blackman Memorial Scholarship

Emilie Anastasio

Erica Lenore Diedrichsen Butterfly Memorial Scholarship

Ellison Barrows, Ana Coimbra, Lea Oliveros, Jessica Winick

Marine Distinguished Athlete Award

Charles Tinsley

Marine Scholastic Excellence Award

Aman Amer

Semper Fidelis Award for Musical Excellence

Tye Bennett

West Point Dwight D. Eisenhower Outstanding Leader of Character

Zachary Rosenthal

Danny Gaughran Memorial Scholarship

Jaylin Reeves, Siomara Velasquez-Ruiz

The Randall Therssen Memorial Scholarship

Lila Amato, Emily Blackman, Constance Bricker, Angela Carter, Danielle Casella, Kathleen Lima-Pessoa, Lindsay Tobias-Mancia

Monmouth Regional Education Association Scholarship

Ava Augusta, Jacob Kroposky, Emma Riccardi, Taylor Rocha

The Jennifer Collum-Glassman Memorial Scholarship

Kristiana Thomas

Katin Builders Scholarship

Robert Lentz, Myles Ligon

Eatontown PBA Local #305 John Mahpney Memorial Scholarship

Brady Hennelly

The Bernie Daniels Memorial Scholarship

Zavia Herbert, Jaylin Reeves

The Gina Delutis Memorial Scholarship

Jessica Winick

Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers

Kristiana Thomas

Eatontown Elks Lodge #2402 Scholarship

Ava Diedrichsen

Tinton Falls PBA Scholarship

Matheus Cunha, Amahri Mitchell

MCGDA Brookdale Incentive to Succeed Scholarship

Shea Prout

Cori Nicholson Memorial Scholarship

Lea Oliverros, Jessica Winick

The Captain James Gurbisz Leadership Scholarship

Beckett Langdon

The Captain James Gurbisz AP Government Scholarship

Emilie Anastasio

Monmouth Regional High School Departmental Awards of Excellence

Applied Technology

Fine Art: Myasia Willias

Photography: Mier Shah

Business: Alexander Tanta-Nata

Family & Consumer Science: Taylor Rocha

Culinary: Taylor Rocha

Technology & Engineering: Jarod Alviola

Music

Vocal: Jaden Perry

Musicianship: Tye Bennett

Theater: Emily Blackman

Mathematics

The American Association of University Women: Kayla Dinh

Math

Aman Amer

Computer Science

Roshan Johnson

Science

Roshan Johnson & Ava Augusta

Physical Education

Aman Amer & Emma Riccardi

English

Ava Augusta

Humanities

Kayla Dinh

Social Studies

Ava Diedrichsen

Psychology

Lea Oliveros

English as a Second Language

Fedson Benoit-Dieudonne

World Languages

Sarah Bruno, Kayla Dinh & Rebeca Ramirez-Lanuza

Collegeboard AP Capstone Dipolma

Skyla Abban, Fatima Ali, Constance Bricker, Ana Clara Coimbra, Ava Diedrichsen, Kayla Dinh, Jordan Hom, Julia Le, Jai Mehta, Rebeca Ramirez-Lanuza, Ahtziri Valverde

Collegeboard AP Seminar & Research Certificate

Adam Ali, Preet Kumar, Lea Oliveros, Savannah Schwarz, Myasia Willia, Jessica Winick