Michael E. Desjardins of East Brunswick, New Jersey and Emily Grace Murphy of Lambertville, New Jersey have been selected to receive 2011 scholarships from the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey.

Desjardins will receive the top prize of $5,000 while Murphy will take home $2,500.

“There were a total of five applicants and all were outstanding candidates,” said SBOANJ President Tom Luchento. “We picked the two most deserving with the greatest need.”

Desjardins and Murphy will be saluted with dinner and a winner’s circle presentation at the Meadowlands Racetrack on a date to be determined.

Desjardins is a junior attending Quinnipiac University, pursuing a degree in broadcast journalism. His goal is to be a sports commentator although he also has a substitute teaching certificate and has tutored students and mentored learning disabled high schoolers.

The East Brunswick High School graduate is on the Quinnipiac Dean’s List. He is the son of longtime trainer-driver Michael and Donna Desjardins and was an SBOANJ scholarship winner in 2008.

Murphy will be attending Canisius College in Buffalo, New York in the fall where she plans to major in animal behavior, ecology and conservation.

The South Hunterdon Regional High School graduate, selected for the National Honor Society, was a member of her school’s Science Olympiad team which twice earned silver medals in ecology.

The daughter of Patti and Joseph Murphy, she created a documentary on the harness racing industry in New Jersey and also won harness racing’s Marie Hill National Youth Writing Contest. Her mother, Patti Murphy, is the farm manager for the New Jersey division of Hanover Shoe Farms and Joseph oversees the stallions.

“Such personal participation in harness racing reinvigorated both my immense love of animals and my desire to make a difference in the world,” Emily Murphy said.

(SBOANJ)