Clarkstown Education Foundation Awards $47,000 in Scholarships, Grants

Leaders of the Clarkstown Education Foundation went to the Clarkstown Central School District's headquarters in New City last week bearing gifts - $47,000 worth of gifts.

The foundation, established to support the public school district's students and teachers, awarded four $1,000 scholarships to graduating seniors from Clarkstown North and Clarkstown South high schools and backed 16 projects ranging from "smart boards" for interactive lessons in the classroom to new WiFi service for students to use at both high schools.

Money for the scholarships and equipment purchases for use at district schools came from a variety of fundraising events the foundation runs throughout the year, according to foundation president Michael Aglialoro.

Aglialoron and Foundation Vice President Dori McMaster, a New City businesswoman, presented the scholarships and grant awards.

Scholarships were awarded to: Justin Mathew and Kaitlin Murphy of South High School; and, Richard Wu and Vicky Atzl of North High School.

Additionally, as a direct benefit to high school students, Aglialoron said the foundation is funding a "WiFi" wing in each high school. He said this will allow students to use their wireless devices and computers for educational and relaxation purposes at school.

The foundation received nearly 70 applications for grants from teachers within the district. Aglialoron said the following are the winners:

"Smart boards" goes to Elise Krinsky, fifth grade, and Claudia Bahssin, fourth grade, at Strawtown Elementary School.

Wayne Merket (sixth-grade) and Georgianna Diopoulos (special education) get "Smart Boards" at Felix Festa Middle School. Timothy Ferraro gets a "Book Throwdown" for the sixth grade at Felix Festa, where Mark Gorman also gets a "Globe Kit" for the sixth grade.

At Link Elementary, Danielle Clancy gets a "Smart Board" for the sixth grade. Link also won another "Smart Board" because that school had the highest level of participation in Clarkstown Education Foundation fundraising events, Aglialoron said.

Cathy Malgieri of Woodglen Elementary's special education program won a grant for six portable CD players and six sets of headphones. As at Woodglen, Lisa Maher won a grant for a Book Fairy Program for kindergarteners to fifth-graders.

At Bardonia Elementary, Debbie D'Addio won a grant for a micro cassette recorder and tapes to be used in special education programs. Also, kindergarten teacher Vivian Rose won a grant for a "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Project."

At New City Elementary, David Landres won an Elmo for the fifth grade.

At North High School, J. Steinberg won support for a program for freshman. At South, Maureen DiSavino won a grant supporting involvement with the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey for the 9-12 Theater program.

Before the Clarkstown Education Foundation leaders were finished handing out awards to students and teachers at a school board meeting at the district headquarters in New City, Aglialoron and McMaster won praises from school Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan for spearheading the foundation's fundraising efforts. Additionally, Keller-Cogan praised her assistant, Maureen Sullivan, for providing the administrative assistance necessary to run the foundation.

The organization was founded in 2007, and 2009 received official Internal Revenue Service recognition as a non-profit organization.

Continuing its fundraising efforts, the foundation has its first benefit golf outing set for Wednesday, June 30 at Dellwood Country Club in New City. Registration starts at 11 a.m., with a lunch also at 11 a.m. and the shotgun start at 1 p.m. There's a cocktail/buffet reception from 6 to 8 p.m., with an awards ceremony and a silent auction.

Registration for the golf outing is $190 per person, with a "busy executive" rate of $65 per person to attend the reception only. For more information about the golf outing call Doug Katz at 845-638-6008 or Barry Robbins at 914-772-7643.