The New Iberia Rotary Club gifted scholarships to 11 graduating Iberia Parish students Wednesday as part of its annual scholarship awards. 

The club presented the JP Thibodeaux/Chris Daly and Greg LeBlanc Jr. Scholarship to eight awardees, along with the Gale Soileau Award, Bab Badon Award and Wayne Clay Award to another three seniors. 

The scholarships started after the passing of JP Thibodeaux and Chris Daly, both of whom were active Rotary Club members that cared about the future of young people in Iberia Parish. Greg LeBlanc Jr., who took over J.P. Thibodeaux Automotive, had his name added to the award following a request from Thibodeaux’s son and LeBlanc’s longtime friend Joe Thibodeaux. 

“He (JP Thibodeaux) loved to see young people chase their dreams,” LeBlanc said. 

Awardees included Abigail Landry from Acadiana Christian School, Bennet Boudreaux from Catholic High School, Emma Dunigan from Delcambre High School, Skylar Maples from Highland Baptist Christian School, Arielle Levine from Jeanerette High School, Luke Landry from Loreauville High School, Ngoc “Sam” Tran from New Iberia Senior High School and Richard Courtney Jr. from Westgate High School. 

Abigail Mano was the winner of the Gale Soileau Award, and Railynn Nguyen was awarded the Bob Badon Award. The Wayne Clay Award went to Sophia Truong.