Celtic Classic Awards $7,500 in Scholarships

Elizabeth Anthony

Although we druids are known for a human sacrifice here and there, there really is such a thing as Celtic culture. The English and Scots have a few bards of lesser quality like Dickens and Shakespeare. We Irish can point to literary giants like W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and George Bernard Shaw, to name a few. We've got more than bagpipes and haggis. We invented or perfected most literary forms. For example, long before the Japanese came up with the haiku, we had the fucku. It comes as no surprise to me that, once every year, Bethlehem celebrates the Celtic Classic. Mayor Bob Donchez, a Slovak, runs around in a kilt. I even taught him an Irish greeting -
póg mo thóin.

I might have slightly embellished my first paragraph. But the Celtic Cultural Alliance (CCA) wants you to know they are more than whisky tasting. This past year, $7000 in scholarships were awarded to students studying Celtic Art forms such as Celtic fiddle, bagpipes, literature, the fine arts, Irish Dance or Scottish Highland Dance.

Now, in the Christmas season, CCA has awarded a $500 volunteer scholarship to Elizabeth Anthony, a Liberty High School junior and daughter of Ed and Robin Anthony of Hanover Township. Elizabeth volunteered at the 2019 Celtic Classic Highland Games and Festival. She is a majorette in the LHSGB, plays lacrosse, is captain of the club cancer crushers and captain of the helping hands committee in BASD mini-thon. She is also a member of National Honor Society, Cops-n-Kids, G.R.A.S.S. club, and S.A.D.D, and Key Club. She is employed as a youth girls’ lacrosse official and as a cashier at Skyzone.

Elizabeth stated one of her highlights as a volunteer was speaking to a visitor using sign language that she learned from her ASL class at Liberty High School. Serving in three different areas of Celtic Classic, she stated she “loved being a volunteer at Celtic Classic because it brings the community together to celebrate and promote the Celtic culture, which is my heritage.”

For more information on the Celtic Classic Highland Games & Festival and other Celtic Cultural Alliance events, visit the organization’s website at www.celticfest.org.