6 Bridgeport Students To Receive Prestigious Scholar-Athlete Awards

BRIDGEPORT, CT — Six student-athletes from three Bridgeport high schools have been selected to receive the prestigious Scholar-Athlete Award from the Connecticut Association of Schools - Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference.

The six deserving, hard-working student-athletes are:

• BRIDGEPORT CENTRAL - Leslie Baculima / Alfred Jones
• BULLARD-HAVENS TECH - Benhur Gebretinsae / Julia Zambrano
• KOLBE CATHEDRAL - Giselle Gonzalez / Joshua Cruz-Martinez

The organization will honor and celebrate these six and more than 300 other Connecticut scholar-athletes Sunday at the 40th annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.

According to CAS-CIAC, the Scholar-Athlete Program "annually recognizes two high school seniors from each member high school whose academic and athletic careers have been exemplary, whose personal standards and achievements are a model to others, and who possess high levels of integrity, self-discipline and courage."

Sunday's event is the largest of the many honors programs CAS-CIAC hosts each year. The honorees are chosen by the member schools and are submitted to the CIAC.

Retired sports broadcaster Bob Picozzi will serve as master of ceremonies for the 37th time, while Emeka Okafor, a national champion at UConn and 10-year NBA player, will deliver the keynote address.

Additionally, Evan St. Amand, a member of the Hall High School boys golf team, will be formally honored as the 2023 Michael H. Savage Spirit of Sport Award winner. Amand was profiled by CIAC in this video story.

The complete list of this year’s CAS-CIAC Scholar-Athletes can be viewed here, in addition to lists of all-time honorees by year.