BOSTON - A Tewksbury man is among eight new recipients of grants from the Commonwealth Covenant Fund (CCF) from Treasurer Timothy Cahill's office.

The CCF announced the program has approved an additional eight grants for funding, bringing the total number of recipients of this prestigious award to 12.

One of the new recipients was Joel Clabeaux of Tewksbury.

Others included Kinina Kun Kong of Lowell, Ashley Pickering of Medford, Tristyn Buck of Hadley, William Baafi of Chelmsford, Christopher Kertyzak of Dunstable, Adam Butler of Franklin, and Amy Rodriguez of Saugus.

The Commonwealth Covenant Fund was enabled by legislation introduced by Senator Robert O'Leary in FY2008. The Fund is an innovative program that offers tuition loan repayments to students who attend public universities or colleges in Massachusetts and stay to pursue careers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields.

"The average college student graduates with more than $20,000 dollars in debt," said Treasurer Cahill.  "I am pleased that we have the opportunity to help these talented young men and women pay off their existing loans."

The legislation allows CCF to grant each recipient up to $5,000 for each year worked in the Commonwealth, for a maximum total of $15,000.

"I work extremely hard in my occupation as a software engineer for Mercury Computer Systems," said Clabeaux, a 2008 graduate of UMASS Lowell with a Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering. "I am very pleased to accept such an honorable award from the Commonwealth Covenant Fund."

The Fund has over 160 registered applicants who represent virtually every state college – including the entire UMass system. "With the continued support of the legislature, it is our hope that we can encourage more students to major in the STEM fields, and to remain in the Commonwealth when they graduate," said Cahill.