MASSENA -- A graduating senior at Massena High School has been named the 2020 recipient of the Jeannette and Saul Rosenbaum Memorial Scholarship.

Savannah Hargrave will receive $500 toward her first year of college studies. She will matriculate this fall at SUNY Plattsburgh, where she plans to become an education major.

She is the daughter of Amanda and Jeffrey Hargrave of County Route 43 in Massena.

The scholarship, named in memory of two lifelong Massena residents, is designated annually for a graduating senior at Massena HS who has made a significant commitment to volunteer service.

Savannah ranks 7th in her graduating class of 204. She is being honored for her extensive commitment to several volunteer programs at her school and in the community, notably as a Learn-to-Lead mentor, which has paired her with an “at-risk student.” Of those experiences, she said: “I continued to see these students blossom as they gained confidence and happiness at school. I am so incredibly thankful for that experience because I was able to be a friend and role model to some amazing students in our school.”

As part of her school’s Interact Club, Savannah assisted with Back-the-Pack, which packages and delivers food to elementary and middle school students whose families are struggling. She scheduled food packing days on numerous occasions during her junior and senior years and recruited additional volunteers from the school’s National Honors Society.

In his letter of recommendation, Michael Violi, chair of the English Department at Massena HS, said: “I can’t think of a time where Savannah didn’t accomplish a task or that the result of her effort was less than excellent. She never lets her educational guard down.”

The Rosenbaum scholarship, which is awarded annually, is funded by grandchildren of Saul and Jeannette Rosenbaum, whose two children, Ruth and Joel, graduated from Massena High School in the 1940s. Saul Rosenbaum owned and operated a men’s clothing store for many years on Main Street in Massena.