SUNY Orange honors scholarship recipients

MIDDLETOWN — SUNY Orange celebrated the achievements of 84 of its “best and brightest” students during its annual Student Scholarship Awards and Recognition Ceremony held recently. The college’s wide array of academic, community service and athletic scholarships were distributed by Dr. William Richards, SUNY Orange president, and Nick Illobre ‘71, chairman of the SUNY Orange Foundation. Illobre and Vinnie Cazzetta, vice president for institutional advancement, welcomed the audience before turning the podium over to biology professor Monty Vacura and student Laurie Raskin. This past spring, Vacura received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence, the highest honor bestowed upon community college faculty in the SUNY system. Among the 84 students honored, seven captured three scholarship awards each, including Frank Eder (Westtown), Shelly Kornher (Bloomingburg), Dennis Lankau (Campbell Hall) Elizabeth Lopez-Cortez (Otisville), Heather Quinn (Sparrow Bush), Ethan Weber (Middletown) and Dawn Woods (Warwick). Other scholarship recipients included: Matthew Barnes (Monroe), Charles Toole Memorial Music Award Kayla Cabacungan (Chester), Chris Schmid Athletic Scholarship Jacqueline Christmann (Monroe), Orange County Trust Company President’s Scholarship for Outstanding Academic Achievement Cori Drummond (Goshen), Vincent Casserly Memorial Scholarship, Goshen Rotary Club Scholarship Kiera Fleming (Highland Mills), Ruth Kassel Scholarship, Kathryn Murphy Memorial Scholarship Eli Foorootany (Pine Island), Jack Polletts Memorial Scholarship Barbara Gallagher (Florida), Carol A. Gregory Grant in Aid Scholarship, Dr. Harold W. Morgans Scholarship Thomas Giannini (Monroe), SUNY Orange Foundation Scholarship Robert Howell (Florida), Faculty Perpetual Scholarship Ashley Kersting (Monroe), Mary B. Diana Scholarship Meghan Lamontagne (Warwick), SUNY Orange Foundation Scholarship Dennis Lankau (Campbell Hall), Peter Alberghini Inspirational Scholarship, Garden Club of Orange County Scholarship, Jack Goldstein Alumni Memorial Scholarship Kyle Montross (Monroe), Chris Schmid Athletic Scholarship Samantha Phillips (Chester), Chris Schmid Athletic Scholarship Patrick Pierpoint (Goshen), James Ottaway Jr. Honors Program Scholarship Laurie Raskin (Monroe), George F. Shepard Outstanding Alumni Citizenship Scholarship Erika Smith (Chester), Gregory Edward Allen Scholarship Julie Smith (Highland Mills), OTA Alumni Scholarship Samantha Stanaway (Chester), H. Seeley McClure Memorial Scholarship Patricia Tannachion (Highland Mills), Raymond Raimondi Alumni Memorial Scholarship, John B. Parkhurst Creative Writing Award Dawn Woods (Warwick), Alice Curtis Desmond Memorial Scholarship, Shepard and Edna Pryluck Scholarship, New York State Federation of Home Bureaus Scholarship in honor of Vertrees Ackerly