A Message from the President
Dear members and friends:
By the time you read this message, you will be in the early days of summer. While it is a new season, it might just bring to mind those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer that have become part of our past. Hopefully, this summer you will be able to make new memories of enjoyable days filled with vacations, get-togethers, good times and a slower pace of life.
Speaking of a slower pace, the AMHS typically reduces its activities over the summer, recognizing that many of our members travel to Italy or head out of town to visit family and friends. Of course, we are still planning our annual Ferragosto picnic in August. This year it will take place on August 14th at Fort Ward Park in Alexandria, Virginia. See page 16 for additional details.
Our latest general meeting took place on May 15th. The program was called “For the Love of Pasta: Preserving Italian Cuisine, Culture and Health” and featured author and chef Amy Riolo as well a panel of five food experts. The food, prepared by Fontina Grille, was really an excellent accompaniment to a food-themed event. The day was both informative and enjoyable – not surprising, given the presence of Amy Riolo and her extremely knowledgeable panel. All of this added up to another successful program aimed at informing and entertaining our AMHS members and friends.
As most of you know, every year the AMHS awards a scholarship to two outstanding students based on their academic performance and their interest in the Italian language and culture. This year, as has often been the case, every applicant had remarkable academic credentials, strong Italian language skills, and was in every case an enthusiastic ambassador of Italian culture. With only two scholarships available, how does one differentiate the applicants in order to select the winners? That was the task of the AMHS Scholarship Committee, which spent quite a few hours in the month of April reviewing applications and evaluating the applicants. The Committee ultimately selected William DiGiovanni, a rising sophomore at Georgetown University, and Marcella Finelli, a rising senior at the University of Maryland, as the 2022-2023 academic year AMHS scholarship winners. You can find out more about them, read their thank you letters to the Society, and see their photos in a separate article in this edition. Their interests and abilities are precisely what our Society wants to nourish, as they align with the goals set forth at our inception of preserving and promoting the Italian language and culture and passing it on to future generations. Our members, and especially our donors, should feel a sense of pride and satisfaction in reading about our winners, as it is member donations alone that make the scholarship program possible.
Stay tuned for more information on plans for our Ferragosto picnic as well as news regarding upcoming programs and updates to our constantly improving website. Thank you for reading and for your interest in the AMHS.
Have a great summer!
Best regards,
Ray LaVerghetta
July/August 2022
