Awards

OCIAA honors scholar athletes

Sullivan County’s top senior student athletes join other league standouts to receive prestigious awards

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MIDDLETOWN, NY — Being a top student is a fulltime job. So is being a highly competitive athlete. To manage both and be the top male or female athlete in the senior class of your school is a remarkable achievement and worthy of great honors. One such honor is to be the recipient of the annual OCIAA (Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association) Scholar Athlete Award.

On May 1, the top male and female scholar athlete from each of Sullivan County’s nine school districts joined other students with similar stellar profiles from league schools in Orange and Ulster Counties to be honored at the annual awards breakfast. Academically and athletically gifted, most of these students are involved in a host of other activities, and all are college-bound.

This year’s Sullivan County honorees include Grace Babula and Nick Simonelli from Eldred, Brittany Hunter and Reggie Bici from Fallsburg, Katherine Scott and Grayson Wyatt from The Family Foundation School, Angelee Santoro and Michael Dunnigan from Liberty High School, Jessie Simmons and Josh Gorr from Livingston Manor High School, Pollyanna Palhano and Brendan Devine from Monticello High School, Kasse Brock from Roscoe Central School, Sarah Lander and Matthew Layman from Sullivan West High School and Casey Offringa and David McDonald from Tri-Valley High School.

Following a welcome by James Osborne, OCIAA Athletic Coordinator, the students were introduced by OCIAA President Frank Carrozza, the Athletic Director of Minisink Valley High School. This year’s keynote speaker was Amanda Beth Jenkins, who competed in pole vault and sprints throughout her four years of college, majoring in chemistry and biochemistry at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD, and all the while maintaining a 3.95 GPA.

Sullivan County BOCES superintendent Dr. Martin Handler joined Terrence Olivo, the Chief Operating Officer of Orange-Ulster BOCES, along with Robert Koegel and Bert Meyers of sponsor Anaconda Sports, in presenting the plaques to this year’s recipients. The Times Herald-Record was also a sponsor of the event.