Hauppauge--The Suffolk County Executive’s Office of Women’s Services has chosen the winners of its 2009 essay contest, “The Woman I Most Admire.” The winners will receive their awards and proclamations at a ceremony scheduled for:
WHEN: Friday, June 5, 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Media Room of the H. Lee Dennison Building, 100 Veterans Memorial Highway, Hauppauge, NY
The winning students, their teachers, family and friends are invited. Light refreshments will be served.
In the high-school category, Mariana DeMarco from Smithtown High School West will receive the Judi Weissman Award for Excellence. This award is named after a teacher who, before her recent retirement from Brentwood Sonderling High School, was an enthusiastic participant in the essay contest every year.
Other high-school winners are: First place, Nicole Stanek, Westhampton Beach High School; second place, Leah Calleja, Newfield High School; and third place, Juan Garcia, Amityville Memorial High School.
In the middle-school category, the winners are: First place, Christopher Kuhner, St. Mary School; second place, Alessandra Thomas, St. Patrick’s School; third place, Alexcia Rosado, Bay Shore Middle School; and honorable mention, Brandon Holly, Bay Shore Middle School.
In addition, the following students will receive excellence awards: Nevin Daniel, Ward Melville High School; Tracy Governanti, Amityville Memorial High School; Katherine Johnson, Nassakeag Elementary School; Andy Laurent and Thushea Dieujuste, Edmund W. Miles Middle School; and Joe Solomita, Smithtown High School West.
To recognize the overall quality of all their students’ entries, two “Apple of Our Eye” awards will go to teachers (one each at the middle- and high-school level): Christopher Roth, Amityville Memorial High School; and Michele Picardi, St. Mary School.
Also, five schools will receive proclamations to honor their high level of engagement in this project, as well as the quality and variety of their students’ work. The individual schools to be honored are: Amityville Memorial High School, Bay Shore Middle School, Edmund W. Miles Middle School, St. Mary School, and Smithtown High School West.
“It’s a wonderful contest, and the students’ enthusiasm pretty much jumps off the pages of each essay,” said County Executive Steve Levy. “So many of the students honor their mothers. You can feel the love, and the fact that the kids really do appreciate the hard work and sacrifices made on their behalf by their most-admired women.”
“The Woman I Most Admire” is the topic of the Office of Women’s Services essay contest, mounted every year to mark Women’s History Month. This year saw a significant increase in countywide participation, with some 1,753 essays received from 48 schools under the guidance of 98 teachers. |
