Good character pays dividends for local students

United Way of Martin County’s CHARACTER COUNTS! program recently recognized the 2009-10 Joe Kordick Youth Character Award winners.

This year’s awards, open to middle school students and high school seniors, saw 78 nominations, who were all invited to submit an application, resume, essay and two letters of recommendation – all relating to their character development.

Two committees of CHARACTER COUNTS! advisory board members, one for middle school and another for high school, read and scored the applications.

The 20 highest scoring middle school applicants were the recipients of a $100 savings bond, while the 20 highest scoring high school applicants were each interviewed and from there, nine recipients were selected and received $1,000.

Guest speakers Patricia Harvey, Martin County School District director of curriculum and school improvement, and Robyn Vanover CHARACTER COUNTS! chair and MCSD Safe & Drug Free coordinator, addressed the winners and their families during an awards ceremony sponsored by The Kordick Trust; The Law Firm of Kramer, Sopko & Levenstein; and Proctor, Crook, Crowder & Fogal, CPA on March 22 at Indian River State College’s Chastain Campus in Stuart.

Presenting the awards were: Miguel Coty, United Way of Martin County board president and Martin Memorial Health Systems vice president of marketing; Maryellen Quinn-Lunny, executive director of the MCSD ESE and Student Services; as well as CHARACTER COUNTS! advisory board members Mark Lively, Jacki Jackson, Emily Gallo, Darcy VonOhlen and Suzanne Wentley.

The 2009-10 middle school winners are:

Taylor Epsenhart, Dr. David L Anderson Middle

Raymond Macias, Dr. David L Anderson Middle

Andrew Fowler, Hidden Oaks Middle

Lauren Gawel, Hidden Oaks Middle

Olivia Ranieri, Hidden Oaks Middle

Brett Taylor, Hidden Oaks Middle

Dylan Alsip, Indiantown Middle

Pascual Francisco, Indiantown Middle

Rafael Pedro, Indiantown Middle

Jimenez Marcos, Indiantown Middle

Kadesha Singleton, Indiantown Middle

Luke Brandenburg, Murray Middle

Dakota Brockway, Murray Middle

Simone Fladung, Murray Middle

Jessica Li, Murray Middle

Noureen Ahmed, Stuart Middle

Haley Donow, Stuart Middle

Kassidy Hof-Mahoney, Stuart Middle

Natalie Holland, Stuart Middle

Taylor Wieczorek, Stuart Middle

The 2009-10 high school winners are:

Maria A. Fernandez, Clark Advanced Learning Center

Meera Nagarsheth, Jensen Beach High

Natasha Petrovich, Jensen Beach High

Patrick Escalante, Martin County High

Roshni Patel, Martin County High

Kate Logan, South Fork High

Kenya McAdoo, South Fork High

Matthew Monahan, South Fork High

Maxwell Poirier, South Fork High