Academic achievement dinner honors county’s best

By RICHARD A. ROSS

ELDRED, NY — Citing the occasion as an opportunity to send off “our best and our brightest students while hearing about their plans for college,” Sullivan County District Superintendent Dr. Martin Handler complimented the 31 top students from the county’s eight school districts and wished them well. Handler read from “The Desiderata,” by Max Ehrmann. A copy of the inspirational poem and a thesaurus donated by The Times Herald Record was given to each honoree.

Handler introduced guest speaker Joyce Salimeno, co-owner and CEO of the Gersten-Hillman Insurance Agency. Salimeno, who was born and raised in Cochecton, is a life-long county resident noted for her tireless efforts in serving the community. A past president of the Catskill Regional Medical Center, chairman of the IDA, chairperson of Sullivan First, a member of Sullivan Renaissance and president of the Sullivan County Workforce Development Board, Salimeno had a three-part message.

“Striving to attain new goals does not stop here,” Salimeno said, who added that setting goals was “a lifelong venture.” She advised the room of potential future leaders to set goals that were attainable and encourage them to persist because, “things worth having are worth working for.”

After 33 years as a business owner, Salimeno, who used to work seven days a week, is a living testimony to the rewards of perseverance and hard work.

In addition to goal setting, Salimeno cited the virtues of patience. “Starting at the bottom is an advantage. You get to learn about every facet of the job,” she said. Finally, she told the students that it was important to give back to their families and to the community that had supported them. “Live and learn but above all be prepared to take responsibility for poor results and give credit to others for success.”

Each student came forward to state his or her plans for college.

Jené Shafer of Eldred will attend OCCC to study medical lab technology; David Albanese is going to Binghamton University for pre-law and Richard Watts will be studying gothic arts at The Korean School for the Arts. Sarah Halprin of Fallsburg is going to Princeton but has not declared a major as yet. Rebecca Haber will attend Cornell for pre-med and Johann Maradey will be going to Dartmouth to study biochemistry and earth science. Rebecca Cuttita of Liberty High School is going to Pace University for finance, Erin Simpson is going to Wilkes College for accounting and criminology. Morgan Hardy will be attending Columbia University. Her major is undecided. Bertha Lee is going to the Boston College School of Nursing and Jen Grabowski will be attending Northeast University. Her major is undeclared.

Jennifer Taggart of Livingston Manor will study pharmacology at Buffalo University. She will be joined there by Krista Bressler, who will major in chemistry. Lindsay Fisk is attending St. Lawrence University for environmental science.

Ashley Bloom of Monticello heads off for the University of Richmond to study theatre and communications. Brian Brandes will attend Alfred State University for computer science. Lisa Manz is going to Stony Brook for pre-med studies. Ashley Morse will be attending the University of Miami in Coral Gables to study psychology and sociology. Ariana Peluso will be at Cornell to study animal science. Jason Richmond will attend The College of William and Mary to take up history and Eric Shulman will study biology and environmental engineering at Cornell.

Susanne Bowers of Roscoe is heading to Stony Brook and will be majoring in psychology. Brenden Hendrickson is going to Cortland to study professional writing.

Lesley Bright of Sullivan West is going to Worcester Polytechnical Institute to study biology and biotechnology. Fern Langham will be at Syracuse taking up biomedical engineering and neuroscience. Ashley Relyea will attend the Albany College of Pharmocology. John Theadore heads off to Elmira to study history and Cassie Valentin will be at Tufts University. Her major is undecided but she will minor in music.

Amanda Krom of Tri-Valley is going to Elmira and majoring in sociology. Heather Iatauro will be at Princeton for mechanical and aerospace engineering. Amber Saylor will be going to Cornell but is undecided about her major.