By:Mary Ellen Zangara
Hillsborough athletes and Scouts were among the youth recognized at the first Youth Recognition Dinner sponsored by the Manville-Hillsborough Elks Club Youth Activities Committee.
The event, held Sunday, honored outstanding youth from both Hillsborough and Manville for activities in the 2001-2002 "Elk year."
More than 100 youngsters were given various awards for their achievements in programs through the Club, which is celebrating Elks National Youth Week May 5-11. The dinner and awards were paid for by the Youth Activities Committee with various fund-raisers throughout the year. For almost three hours, the kids were the stars of the program.
Those honored were joined by over 200 people in attendance including their families and some local dignitaries from the Elks and schools. This year’s Exalted Ruler Gary Abramson, last year’s Exalted Ruler John Orzechowski and District Deputy James Green, along with Manville School principals Dr. Jim Brunn from Alexander Batcho Intermediate School and Terrance Fitzpatrick of Manville High School, were present to honor the students.
Awards were given from different programs acknowledging the students for their achievements.
In the New Jersey State Elks Youth Sports Tournament, Hillsborough golfer Dave Berger took first place in the Senior Division last year sponsored by the Manville-Hillsborough Elks. He was presented a golf trophy for his accomplishment.
Also honored were the Eagle Scouts and the Girl Scouts Gold and Silver Award recipients. Boy Scouts who earned the highest rank in Scouting of Eagle were presented an Eagle certificate and American Flag from the Elks. Jared Clifton, Kyle Wildgen, Erik Ivers, Mike Forbes, Dan Eagen and Michael Drozd all of Hillsborough Troops received this honor.
Manville Boy Scouts Donald Koger and Nicholas Berezansky also received the awards.
Girl Scout Gold Awards were presented to Janet Henry, Stacey Lindle, Rebecca Fantuzzi, Kate Godfrey and Laura Majchrowski from Hillsborough.
Silver awards were presented to Manville Scouts Lissette Casas, Amanda Kita and Amy McGinnis, as well as Hillsborough Scouts Cassie Bundy, Kaitlin Forbes, Alyson Williams and Erin Cowen, Megan Dunne, Jackie Ferrigno, Jenna Fitzgerald, Nikali Jones, Rachel Kreindel, Courtney Kuboski, Kerry Kuboski, Katie Maglia, Danielle Mattei, Danielle McSweeney, Emily Russo, Corinne Rendinaro, Allison Schnall, Stephanie Simmons, Kristina Wagner, and Stephanie Stroppa. A certificate and an American Flag were also presented to the Girl Scouts.
Students of the Month were given a certificate, a custom medal with Manville-Hillsborough Elks Outstanding Student on it and a $10 gift certificate to Borders Books. Outstanding Students of the Month included Ashley Daset, Jeffrey Wallace, Kevin Yu and Nicholas Matarazzo from Christ the King School; Jennifer Tumas, Garrett Stewart, Nicole Kolibas, and Dakota French from Weston School; Russell Grimm, Cheyenne French, Stephanie Tarnovetchi and Joshua Michalski from Roosevelt School.
Brendan Nurnberger was recognized for his hair donation to the Cancer Foundation just after Christmas.
Samantha Surovcik wrote an article on epilepsy, which was published in Epilepsy USA and she was honored for her work on the article.
Two special honors were given to groups of students who got involved after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A group of four girls from Alexander Batcho Intermediate School got together and made and sold more than 500 ribbons, donating $400 to the Sept. 11th relief fund. Ashley Kugelman, Deanna Zabawa, Ayla Bruckman and Jennifer Lavelle received this honor.
At Manville High School, a group of students made thousands of pins and donated over $5,000 to the relief fund. Aylsia Kehres, Danielle Mahilo, Amanda Higgins, Jim Noble, Christine Andreyko, Angela Bickar and Jennifer Rodzinak worked together to raise money.
MHS student Franklin Andreyko received an award for his athletic ability on the football field and on the track setting new school records in the long jump. Immaculata senior and resident Melanie Esock received honors for her volunteer work with the ARC of Somerset County.
The "Volunteer of the Year" Award was presented to the Manville Junior Firefighters for their hard work and dedication to the community. Scott Hickey and Jeff Piorkowski accepted the plaque for the Junior Firefighters.
The Elks Hoop Shoot winners were presented trophies for winning their age category in the shoot. Amy Evanylo, Ashley Hardgrove, Casey Shields, Kristina Wagner, Kathleen Hardgrove, Ashley Shields and Ana Maria Mendez won in the girls division, while John Limyansky, Joseph Veglatte, Mark Stracuzzi, Daniel Pierrot, Matthew Zangara, Mark Curley, Ken Taylor, Robert Woo and Jonathan Andrade were acknowledged for the win.
Soccer Shoot winners were also presented trophies in the age categories. Winners included Candice Boscia, Allison Charneski, Rebecca Rogers, Dana Mortensen, Rachel Weikel, Chahar Rogers, Megan McHugh, Christine Bradley, Marzena Brozyna and Nicole Oram. In the boys category, Cory Britt, Daniel McHugh, Matthew Charneski, Stephen Charneski, Matthew Sutton Joshua Saultz, Billy Mileham, Shawn Kaminski, Danny Reiss and Keith Hall were the winners.
Drug Awareness, a sub-committee under Youth Activities, held an essay contest and the winners were Deanna Markey (first place), Rhianna Lebedz (second place) and Michael LeBron (third). These winners received a certificate and a gift certificate to Borders, also.
