Bradley wins Merten Scholarship

Benjamin Bradley

Coudersport High School senior Benjamin Bradley is winner of the third annual Robert Merten Circle of Fifths Scholarship.

He was chosen through a comp etition judged by music professor at Mansfield University and will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship.

Runners-up Brianna Bizarro of Port Allegany High School and Stephen Ouellette will each receive a $500 scholarship.

Applicants for the scholarships were college-bound music students from Potter County and western McKean County.

Third annual Robert Merten Circle of Fifths Music Award fund-raising gala will be held on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 23, tentatively at the Coudersport Golf Club. Among performers will be members of the Coudersport area's popular rock band from the late 1960s, Ollie and the Go Gos.

The award honors the late Rev. Robert B. Merten, a New Jersey native who moved to Coudersport in the 1960s and spent the majority of his adult life in the community. He died in January 2006.

Rev. Merten, who served for a time as pastor of the First United Presbyterian Church, influenced many lives in Coudersport as he shared his views and knowledge of music, religion, philosophy, politics and human relations.