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Valley Stream Herald 12-08-2022

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Natalia Suaza is crowned Miss Teen Long Island By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com

Courtesy Christopher Griffith

It’s ice to meet you Two-year-old Juliana hung out with Santa Claus for breakfast at the village Community Center.

She lacked any formal training or previous experience in the pageant circuit, but newcomer Natalia Suaza took the local pageant world by storm after capturing the crown for Miss Teen Long Island 2023 on Nov. 20. The 18-year-old contestant from Valley Stream burst onto the pageant scene at the Madison Theatre at Molloy University with a compelling message and articulate poise that carved a path to victory against 11 other contestants. Aside from the usual glamour and flare of pageant performances, the competition tasked each contestant to speak on a worthy

cause of their choice. “My platform statement was cancer awareness,” said Suaza, a cause that while widely affecting many families across the Island, struck a deep personal chord for Suaza. “I talked about how my dad, John Suaza, passed away from cancer when I was 9 years old. It was not only about the person diagnosed with cancer but the family’s impact as well.” Her platform hoped to highlight and promote the valuable work done by places like the Center for Hope with Northwell Health and Calvary Hospital in guiding families through their journey of grief. Her crowning moment was, Continued on page 10

NYPD officer gives late father soaring Rangers game tribute By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com

It was a heated Monday night New York Rangers game on Nov. 28. The kind that Brianna Fernandez, an avid Rangers fan, would tune in to watch with her late father in front of the television. This match, however, was different. Fernandez, 24, wasn’t at home watching the game or sitting in the stands with thousands of other fans. She was standing at center ice during the pregame ceremony, her voice soaring through the arena as she poured out a dazzling rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner at

Madison Square Garden. She was donning not a jersey, but her New York Police Department uniform. As her voice rose, finishing “home of the brave” with a grand crescendo, she heard the swell of the crowd’s applause. All she could do was take it in. Amid the electrifying jolt of the fans, along with the noise and excitement and the adrenaline of the moment, she stood poised beaming with a smile. Her mind anchored on the memory of one man: her father, NYPD detective Luis Fernandez. “I really, truly felt like he was there with me on that ice when I was singing,” she said. “It was just such an incredible moment,

H

e was the most selfless, kind, and loveable man and was a hero in more ways than one. BAIlEy FERNANDEz

daughter of late NYPD detective Luis Fernandez feeling the energy of the crowd, you know, and just feeling like my dad was there.” Detective Fernandez served in the relief efforts during the

chaos and dread of the September 11 terrorist attacks in Lower Manhattan. After more than two decades of service, he died in October 2014 from esophageal cancer. Like hundreds of other officers, Luis eventually succumbed to health-related complications stemming from his work in the contaminated ground zero recovery efforts in the days fol-

lowing the attacks, leaving behind his two young daughters and wife. As part of the stadium’s Hockey Fights Cancer Night event, her performance was a proud, unmistakable daughterly tribute to him, and his legacy from one fellow NYPD officer to another. Continued on page 16


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