LONG BRANCH — An educator and a city law enforcement officer were honored recently by the Latino American Association of Monmouth County Inc., Long Branch.
Maria Ann Crespo-Rodriguez, a teacher at Long Branch Middle School, and Detective Juan Vasquez, of the Long Branch Police Department, were among four honorees cited by the association at its 11th Annual Awards Banquet held at Branches in West Long Branch on Oct. 15.
Also honored was Rebecca Aaronson, deputy mayor of Manalapan Township, and the late Rev. Victoriano Sandoval, former pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Long Branch, who was honored posthumously.
The Latino American Association of Monmouth County is dedicated to raising awareness of the contributions of Latinos in the county.
The awards honor outstanding individuals from the fields of education, government, law enforcement and religion who have made a difference to the Latino community and who serve as mentors to the community’s youth.
In addition to the annual awards banquet, the association awards annual scholarships to promising college-bound students.
Rodriguez has been on the faculty at Long Branch Middle School for 26 years. She has been a member of the board of the Hispanic Affairs and Resource Center of Monmouth County, a tutor in Stay Smart University, tutoring children in a hospital pediatric ward, and a member of the Long Branch School District’s Puerto Rican Disaster Relief Fund. She is co-founder and co-moderator of the Bilingual/Bicultural Intervention Program, now known as Basic Belief in All People, and received the N.J. Department of Education PRIDE Model Program Award for BBIP. She has twice been named Teacher of the Month at the middle school, was named District Teacher of the Month and has been nominated as Teacher of the Year. She is a recipient of the N.J. Education Department’s Best Practices Award, and is a Hall of Fame member of the A+ for Kids Teachers’ Network.
A lifelong resident of Long Branch, Vasquez joined the City of Long Branch Police Department in 1997. He attended the N.J. State Police Academy in Sea Girt, graduating in 1998. He began working in the department’s Patrol Division as a patrolman, and in February 2000 was transferred to the Criminal Division of the Detective Bureau where he currently holds the title of detective.
The Rev. Sandoval died suddenly in June 2002. He was ordained a priest in 1958 in Spain and served in Brazil for 16 years. In the United States he was assigned to the Church of the Holy Redemption in Mount Holly for 21 years and was at St. John the Baptist Church for four years. He served as Catholic chaplain for Hispanics at the federal prison at Fort Dix and the Mid-State Correctional Facility, and was spiritual director for marriage retreats in the Northeast.
Aaronson is vice chairwoman of the Monmouth County Democratic Party. She was elected mayor of Manalapan in 2002 and was the Democratic candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder in 2001. She is a volunteer for 180 Turning Lives Around, Hazlet.
— Gloria Stravelli