The recently launched ScholarGamers program has awarded its first scholarship prize to Aurora, Illinois senior Eric Martina, who emerged as the winner in a series of online games against 14 other scholarship hopefuls.
Martina earned ScholarGamers' top prize of $10,000, which he plans to put toward his future studies in the medical field. Other prize winners include Avon Lake, Ohio's Erik Leiden, who claimed the second place $7,500 scholarship, and Whitehall, Pennsylvania's Charles Coombs Esmail, who was awarded $5,000 for third place. The remaining finalists each received a $500 scholarship.
ScholarGamers offers students over the age of 13 an opportunity to win educational scholarships by earning top scores in series of free-to-play online games. The organization plans to award more than 100 scholarships to high school students throughout 2011.
"It's very gratifying to see our vision come to fruition and award the first of our scholarships, lightening the burden of educational financing for 15 students," said Angelo Tartaro, founder and CEO of ScholarGamers. "But it's even more satisfying to meet with this terrific group of students and parents face-to-face. Uniformly supportive of our mission, they are highly-motivated to invest in their educational futures, and we wish them all well."
The next competitive round for ten scholarships is now underway, and will run through February 28th.
