Megan Burke and Jonathan Reining are the 1994 recipients of the Church of St. Ann Women’s Guild scholarships.

The annual $500 awards go to a senior boy and girl who are involved in youth ministry at the Marietta parish and have shown leadership in their church, school and community as well as scholarship ability.

Megan is a graduate of Alan C. Pope High School in Marietta. She was chosen teen of the year at St. Ann’s and was featured as teen of the month in the May issue of YOU!, a monthly magazine for teens published in Aguora Hills, Calif. She plans to attend Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in the fall.

Active in Life Teen at St. Ann’s, she credits the youth program for stimulating her involvement in church life.

“I would like to reach out to more young people and to allow them to experience everything that the Church has to offer,” she said of her hopes and plans for future involvement in the Church.

“Without strong and faithful adults, there can be no strong and faithful children. I plan to use my strength and my faith to show children and teens the way of the Lord.”

Jonathan graduated from the Marist School and plans to attend Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in the fall. He is an Eagle Scout and has been involved in scout service projects.

In addition, Jonathan is an avid German scholar and was a German exchange student the summer before his senior year. He believes talking with people of other cultures and learning more about them is the answer to the problem of prejudice.

“Lake of communication creates mistrust and fear,” he wrote in his application for the women’s Guild scholarship.

“We are still plagued by widespread xenophobia. This fear can be eliminated through conversing and learning about people of another culture. It is such a simple thing to do, and yet, the consequences for failure to do so can be monumental.