Sutek family seeks to have law changed

By Christine Haines

chaines@yourmvi.com

Each year that the Gregory Sutek Memorial Scholarship is offered is one year farther away from students who knew him.

“The first couple of years I knew the kids because they went to school with Gregory. I don’t know these kids now,” said his mother, Heather Fox-Sutek. “The first scholarship recipient, after receiving the award, shared a story with me of being in international cooking class with Gregory. The second year, the sister of the winner came to me and said the year before she had a really rough time and Gregory had helped her through it.”

Fox-Sutek said she appreciated gaining new insights into her son’s life by learning how he had touched others, something she had also seen at his funeral. She now appreciates getting to know the scholarship applicants each year, even now when their connection to her son is becoming more tenuous.

“I like reading the essays. I like learning about the kids who are applying,” Fox-Sutek said.

Fox-Sutek said her son had a variety of interests, participating in McKeesport Little Theatre and enjoying reading, but his real love, starting even before he began school, was baseball.

Because of his interests, the Gregory Sutek Memorial Scholarship goes to a scholar/athlete graduating from the Elizabeth Forward School each year. Fox-Sutek said it is a straight merit scholarship, with no financial need or information required. The idea for the scholarship came at the time of the funeral.

“People put money in cards at the funeral and we didn’t know what to do, so we started the scholarship,” Fox-Sutek said.

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