NORTHAMPTON, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- TommyCar Auto Group awarded $7,500 in scholarships to three students from the area at a scholarship breakfast Monday.

The Tom Cosenzi Scholarship Program awarded $2,500 each to three recipients from Agawam, East Longmeadow, and Westfield “We award three students $2,500 each to use to help further their education. The scholarship is in memory of my dad, Tom Cosenzi, who passed away,” said Carla Cosenzi, president of TommyCar Auto Group.

Cosenzi noted the program aims to help ease financial burdens for students and their families. “We wanted to be able to do something to help ease the burden for students who are going on to further their education and for their families,” she added.

The three recipients will attend Connecticut College, College of the Holy Cross, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Teagan Chisholm-Godshalk of Westfield will use the money to support her goal of double-majoring in biology and Spanish at Holy Cross. She said finding the scholarship required effort. “So my mom actually went on a spree and was just Googling everything and we found it through Google,” Chisholm-Godshalk said. “I thought it was really interesting and it’s just a great opportunity.”

Chisholm-Godshalk said rising college costs make scholarships important. “College is becoming more and more expensive, so it’s a great opportunity for me to go out and find scholarships,” she added. “And the Tom Cosenzi Scholarship was really generous with the scholarship.”

Emily Paquette of Agawam is headed to Daytona Beach to study aeronautical science with plans to become a pilot. “Since a kid, I’ve always loved like being in the sky and then once I was actually able to be in an aircraft, like kind of just took it all away from there,” she noted.

She said she is already working toward her goal locally. “I’m actually taking my private pilots at the Northampton Airport, probably like five minutes away from here, and they’ve been so helpful,” Paquette explained.

The program has now given away more than $65,000, continuing the legacy of the late Tom Cosenzi. “It was always a passion of my dad’s to make sure that he was giving back to the community who gives so much to us,” Carla Cosenzi said. “So to be able to sit here with scholarship winners and their families and still honor his name and this tradition means a lot to myself and TommyCar Auto Group.”

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