Three area students gathered Aug. 9 at Ai Orthodontics in Emmaus to be presented with college scholarships.

Each student was awarded a $750 scholarship. The students, all recent high school graduates and patients of Ai Orthodontics, each received a scholarship honoring a fallen member of the community.

Isabelle Stringer received the Dr. William Barringer scholarship, which was presented by his wife Barbara. The award commemorates the life and achievements of the late Dr. Barringer, who had a career which spanned over 40 years. Stringer, a recent graduate of Central Catholic High School, will attend George Washington University and study international relations.

Kenna Kita earned the Mehdi Jaffer Memorial Scholarship, which honored the life of an Emmaus High School student who died earlier this year. Jaffer was a former patient of Ai Orthodontics and was a classmate of Kita’s. Members of the Ai Orthodontics staff presented Kita with the award. Kita, who graduated from Emmaus High School this year, will spend the next 10 months working with “Lattitude Global Volunteering” as a medical assistant in Malawi, Africa before attending the University of Pittsburgh for neuroscience in the fall of 2017.

Bianca Panunto, a recent graduate of Emmaus High School, obtained the Emily Shoemaker Memorial Award. The award honors the late Emily Shoemaker, a Salisbury High School student and Ai Orthodontics patient who died in 2011 after a long battle with cancer. Emily’s mother Cindy Shoemaker presented the award to Panunto. Panunto will attend Temple University to study public health.

After the scholarships were presented, a reception featuring a wide assortment of food was held. This year marked the first time in the history of Ai Orthodontics that all three of its scholarships were given to women.