36 The Great Neck News, Friday, May 22, 2015
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comm u n i t y n e w s
Police activity league volunteers honored Seven volunteers for the Nassau County Police Activity League volunteers were named to the non-profit organization’s 2015 roll of NCPAL Heroes before a capacity crowd of 250 people at the Inaugural NCPAL “Get in the Game” Gala held on May 1 at the Coral House in Baldwin. “These volunteers have set themselves apart with their exceptional service and long-term dedication to their individual units, the youths who comprise the units and their commitment to the Police Activity League philosophy that ‘it is better to build youths than to mend adults’,” said Nassau PAL President Frank DiVittorio. Pictured at the Nassau County Police Activity League 75th Anniversary “Get in the Game” Gala from The honorees include Sunil Sani of the Great Neck PAL; left to right are: NCPAL Commanding Officer Sgt. Doug Kenah with Honorees Charles Durrant, John Bentrewicz of the Hicks- Harvey Pollack, Quontinett Simmons, John Bentrewicz, Sunil Sani, Michele Newell, Roy Vasile, and ville PAL; Roy Vasile of Merrick NCPAL President Frank DiVittorio. PAL; Charles Durrant of the Oyster Bay/ East Norwich PAL; resident Harvey Pollack of the of a special video presentation which made its premiere at the focusing on the impact NCPAL Gala. Quontinett Simmons of the Special Needs Unit PAL. The seven volunteer honor- has had in their communities Each of the honorees also Roosevelt PAL; Michele Newell of Uniondale PAL; and Merrick ees participated in the filming and their personal lives and received citations from Hemp-
stead Town Supervisor Kate Murray for their volunteer efforts, contributions to their communities and work with youth on and off the athletic fields. A presentation was also made to Honorees Karen and John Acompora for the work of the Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation, which is dedicated to improving sports safety and which focuses on the placement of AEDs in all schools, public venues and youth athletic organizations. In October 2014 Karen Acompora presented a $10,000 grant to the NCPAL for its AED program which includes maintenance of 132 onsite AEDs, free AED training programs for volunteers and officials and the purchase of new AEDs. For more information about Nassau County PAL youth sports and other programs or to inquire about volunteering with NCPAL, please visit www.nassaucountypal.org
s chool n e w s
Board Commends South Middle Students
Photo by Irwin Mendlinger
One-hundred-one South Middle School students (shown here) were recently recognized by the Board of Education for contributing to the quality of life at their school. Student honorees, in alphabetical order, are: Jafar Ahmad, Brandon Alwadish, Elana Amir, Gillian Aronov, Adrian Atahualpa, Jacob Blancher, Daniella Brancato, Danae Byer, Irena Cao, David Carbone, Tiana Carter, Nico Castilho, Ashley Chen, Emily Cheng, Ryan Cheng, Annabel Cohen, Ryan Concha, Derek Coval, Annie Dai, Franco D’Aloisio, Danielle Drucker, Paden Dvoor, Yao Fang, Brett Figelman, Katie-Ann Fu, Emily Gao, Julia Gorenstein, Samantha Grenard, Raymond Gresalfi, Andersen Gu, Moeh Hayakawa, Kelly Herrera, Steven Hlampeas, Kristin Hon, Brian Hu, Zhen Huang, Katherine Hui, Mia Johnson, Dylan Kareff, Hannah Kareff, Niyoosha Khaldar, Rachel Kosofsky, Justin Kwong, Sharon Lam, Nicholas Langel, Joyce A Lee, Haylie Lempert, Joshua Leventhal, Allison Liman, Justin Lin, Alexander Lolos, Daniel Lu, Michael Lu, Ryan Lum, Stefan Lungu, Jennifer Luo, Fiona Lyngstad-Hughes, Elina Malamed, Nicole Marinescu, Michael Martinucci, Lenny Meng, Chloe Metz, Gloria Moon, Carla Moraly, Jonathan Neves, Isabella Nicolaides, Joyce Omolayo, Ethan Osman, Seo Hyun Park, Ishaan Pathak, Victor Polizu, Katelyn Pramberger, Jacob Raphael, Hailey Rich, Maggie Roach, Jonathan Rothbaum, Saad Satter, Cecelia Schnall, Rachel Schneider, Olivia Schulman, Corey Seng, Ashwin Shaji, Noah Sheidlower, Serena Swamipersaud, Kenneth Tan, Jeffery Tse, Kaitlin Tung, Mariana Vargas, Antonella Velaoras, George Wang, Jennifer Wang, Tyler Warren, Sophie Williams, Stephen Xia, William Yan, Ashley Yu, Belinda Zhang, Michelle Zheng, Robert Zheng, Hannah Zhong. Joining them were Board of Education members (President Barbara Berkowitz, Vice President Lawrence Gross, and Trustees Donald Ashkenase, Monique Bloom, and Susan Healy), and school and district administrators.