Buckhorn Homeowners Association Awards Scholarships to Durant Seniors

News Report

The Buckhorn Homeowners Association’s annual college scholarship competition was finalized in March of this year. 

All the applicants for the scholarships were extremely qualified, and the finalists were selected by the College Scholarship Committee. 

“It was a delight to receive all these applications from such a truly great group of students who are clearly going to make big impacts on our society in their futures," said committee chairwoman Maria Singfield.

The scholarship awards were made at the Annual Membership Meeting for the Buckhorn Homeowners Association this month at the Buckhorn Springs Golf & Country Club on South Miller Road in Valrico. President Kevin Dorsey took special time at this meeting to introduce and recognize the two winners before the crowd gathered at the meeting. All applicants and winners are residents of the Buckhorn subdivision and seniors at Durant High School.     

First place went to Angela Manci, who received a $500 college scholarship. Manci has been accepted at Brigham Young University in Utah where she will be majoring in microbiology as an undergraduate, and then will continue her studies to achieve a PhD in biomedical engineering. Her goal is to create new devices for physicians to diagnose diseases, synthesize new pharmaceuticals or work in neural engineering. 

Manci has been the president and coach of the Mu Alpha Theta math club, a member of the Science Honors Society and competed twice in the National Science Bowl. She also is the founder and president of the Politics & Current Events Club, is a member of the National Honor Society and is involved in many other activities at Durant High School.

Second place went to Melissa Mertely, who received a $275 college scholarship. Mertely is going to attend the University of Central Florida where she plans to achieve her bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry. Mertely is passionate about chemistry and her goal is to become a forensic chemist for the FBI.

Mertely was active at Durant High School all four years. She was on the very competitive varsity softball team for the last three years of high school. She was also a member of Durant student government for her last three years in high school in multiple positions, and plans to get involved in student government at the University of Central Florida. She is a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club, Success for Student Athletes and Future Business Leaders of America. She received academic letters in 2010 and 2011, and varsity softball letters in 2010 and 2011 (2012 letters have not yet been awarded). 

The Buckhorn Homeowners Association will send each scholarship award directly to these winners’ universities to be applied to their tuition or housing expenses.

In 2013, the Buckhorn Homeowners Association hopes to award one scholarship for a Buckhorn student planning to attend college and one scholarship for a Buckhorn student planning to attend technical school.

The Buckhorn subdivision is a very active community of 652 homes situated around the back nine golf holes of the Buckhorn Springs golf course. The Buckhorn Homeowners Association holds many events during the year for the residents in Buckhorn.