19 local graduating seniors received financial support from the credit union.

On Wednesday, June 11, BrightBridge Credit Union (BrightBridge) awarded a total of $27,500 in scholarships to 19 graduating seniors from schools throughout Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. The students were honored with a ceremony and dinner with BrightBridge’s senior leadership team at the credit union’s corporate office in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Two of the scholarship awards honor members of the BrightBridge and former RTN Federal Credit Union communities. The Lisa Lewis Goodman Community Spirit Award of $2,500 honors one student who embodies a spirit of generosity, kindness and selflessness by giving back and volunteering in the community. The award is named after BrightBridge’s long-time collections manager who passed away in 2021.

The James A. Burley Jr. Scholarship was founded in 2007 by the former RTN Federal Credit Union to honor James A. Burley Jr., a passionate member of RTN’s board of directors for 39 years, spending 33 of those years as board chair. The scholarship recognizes three graduating seniors with awards of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000.

Winners were selected from a pool of more than 700 applicants who were tasked with answering the essay question, “Tell us what leadership means to you. Describe a time when you demonstrated leadership and what lessons you learned from that experience.”

The 2025 recipient of the Lisa Lewis Goodman Community Spirit Award is Brady Lynde, a graduate of Lowell Catholic High School who focused his essay on his community service through the nonprofit organization The Movement Family. Lynde will be attending Northeastern University in the fall where he intends to study data science and robotics.

Top of page: The 2025 BrightBridge Credit Union scholarship winners pose for a photo with BrightBridge President & CEO John J. Howard and Brad Goodman (both center) during the credit union’s annual awards ceremony. Above: From left: Brad Goodman, husband of Lisa Lewis Goodman, 2025 Lisa Lewis Goodman Community Spirit Award Recipient Brady Lynde, and BrightBridge President & CEO John J. Howard.

The 2025 recipients of the James A. Burley Jr. Scholarship are:

• Evan Cote, a Tyngsborough High School graduate who plans to study linguistics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
• Shaurya Patni, who graduated from the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science and will attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, to study biological sciences.
• Luqmaan Shaikh, who graduated from Burlington High School and will be pursuing a degree in public health from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

Fifteen more $1,000 scholarships were awarded to:

• Benjamin Limperis, who graduated from Pinkerton Academy and plans to study finance at Boston College this fall.
• Brandon Nguyen, who graduated from Manchester Memorial High School and will study finance at Boston College.
• Carmina Merrill, an Andover High School graduate who will pursue a degree in communications and media studies at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Ben Nguyen, who graduated from Norwell High School and will attend the University of Michigan Anne Arbor to study nursing.
• Kate Conover, who graduated from Pentucket Regional Middle-High School and plans to study nursing at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
• Ryan Delage, a Leicester High School graduate who will pursue a degree in computer engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
• Margaret Fitzgerald, a graduate from Algonquin Regional High School who will pursue a degree in international studies at American University in Washington, D.C.
• Aden Huang, who graduated from Winchester High School and will study public health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Shea Larkee, a Norwood High School graduate who will attend Cornell University to study industrial and labor relations.
• Victoria Liwanag, who graduated from Austin Preparatory School and will be attending Santa Clara University in California this fall.
• Derek Sun, a Wilmington High School graduate who will study business with a concentration in finance at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
• Amy Tan, who graduated from North Quincy High School and will study government and statistics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Elena Wisniewski, a graduate of Arlington High School who will study geoscience at Princeton University in New Jersey.
• Isabella Mazzocco, who graduated from Thayer Academy and will attend College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts this fall.
• Abigail Lei, a Wachusett Regional High School graduate who will study computer science and geoscience at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

“For several months, our scholarship committee reviewed hundreds of applications and transcripts and read essays and letters of recommendation from students in communities ranging from southern New Hampshire to Rhode Island,” said BrightBridge Marketing Specialist and Scholarship Coordinator Olivia Pink. “We couldn’t believe how many students applied for the scholarship this year and how incredibly smart, hardworking and dedicated to their community each applicant was. It made narrowing down the winners incredibly difficult! Each scholarship winner and applicant should be so proud of the accolades they’ve achieved throughout their high school years.”

To learn more about scholarship opportunities, visit www.brightbridge.com/scholarship.

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