Rotary Awards HHS Seniors $14K
in Scholarships
Huntington Rotary Club officials enthusiastically awarded $14,000 worth of scholarships to four exceptional members of Huntington High School’s Class of 2015.
The scholarship recipients include Kaitlin Dayton, Thomas Kouttron, Megan Boyce and Brendan Dwyer. Rotary officials Ford Spilsbury, Robert Bishop and Frank Plesche presented the awards and spoke about the four honorees during this month’s senior academic awards ceremony in the high school auditorium.
The Huntington Rotary Club was founded in the 1920s. It is a chapter of Rotary International, a 1.2 million member worldwide service organization. The Huntington Rotary Club has awarded scholarships to remarkable Huntington High School seniors for decades. This year’s recipients are held in high esteem by members of the school’s administration and faculty as well as by their classmates.
Four exceptional teenagers
Ms. Dayton was awarded a $6,000 scholarship. She is headed to Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx and is interested in studying political science and international affairs.
“I am thrilled to have won the Rotary scholarship and blown away by the club’s generosity,” Ms. Dayton said. “It means a lot to me that they took an interest in my story and chose to recognize me for it. It will be a comfort going into Fordham with the extra financial help.”
The senior was one of three general event chairs for this year’s Relay For Life that raised about $135,000 for the American Cancer Society. Ms. Dayton has traveled with Huntington’s Habitat for Humanity chapter to New Orleans to assist in that southern city’s rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina. She also helped clean-up Queens and Brooklyn communities following Hurricane Sandy.
Ms. Dayton has participated in HBC’s special soccer program for men and women with autism and Down syndrome on Saturday mornings and with Spanish Honor Society’s social group program that focuses on helping ESL students assimilate into the school and greater community. She has also mentored autistic teenagers in a group coordinated by a community based social worker.
The teenager hopes to continue service activities at Fordham, calling it “a school committed to give back to the community.” Some of the opportunities she will consider range from mentoring Spanish speaking families in the Bronx to traveling with Habitat for Humanity to Third World countries to building housing. “I know I want to continue my work with the American Cancer Society by being an active member of Fordham’s Colleges Against Cancer chapter and I am hoping to join the Fordham Autism Speaks U club.”
Ms. Dayton’s dream is to one day work for the United Nations in its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs or one of its branches involved in peacebuilding.
“By receiving this scholarship, I believe the possibility of attending law school will become more tangible for me,” Ms. Dayton said. “Obtaining a law degree has become quite expensive, but by beginning to save now, I am hoping it will be possible to one day acquire a degree that I believe will help me better enact lasting change on a global scale.”
Megan Boyce
Ms. Boyce was presented with a $3,000 scholarship. She will be attending Stony Brook University where she plans to study biology and follow a pre-dental school academic track.
“Winning the Rotary Club scholarship is truly such an amazing honor,” Ms. Boyce said. “The Rotary is a phenomenal group of people who strive to make a difference in the world and do a tremendous amount of community service. It is such a great feeling to know they are supporting me in all my future endeavors. I couldn’t be more grateful for that.”
Ms. Boyce has been one of the Blue Devil marching band’s drum major in each of the past two years. She is the president of the Tri-M music honor society and a member of three other academic honor societies.
A World of Difference (AWOD) club president and secretary of GrandFriends, the teenager also found time to play four years on the high school softball team.
Thomas Kouttron
Mr. Kouttron was also recognized with a $3,000 scholarship. Known as nothing short of a mechanical genius, the teenager is one of the top members of the senior class. He will be attending Worchester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts to study mechanical engineering.
A member of four different honor societies, Mr. Kouttron played a key role on the Huntington Robotics team in each of the past two years. He has been deeply involved in the student government and has participated in numerous school activities such as Key Club, the K-Factor talent show, Relay For Life, National History Day and Homecoming Day related festivities. The senior has also produced notable work in the high school science research program.
Mr. Kouttron recently culminated years of participation in Boy Scouts of America Troop 12 by completing an Eagle Scout project involving the design and installation of a visually appealing stone walkway that dissects the flag pole area in the grassy island in front of Huntington High School.
Brendan Dwyer
Mr. Dwyer was presented with a $2,000 scholarship. He will be studying history and education at SUNY Old Westbury in the fall. The teenager has spent hundreds of hours volunteering over the past three years as a mentor and tutor at Tri-CYA. A member of Young Leaders, he has helped clean-up local beaches and assisted at numerous events.
Filled with an enormous level of school spirit, Mr. Dwyer ignited crowds at Blue Devil games, both home and away. He has volunteered with Meals on Wheels in the summer and with the Family Service League for its Backpacks for Success program.
Mr. Dwyer participated in a credit bearing career internship with Huntington High School English teacher John Pagano this year. He plans to work as a camp counselor with the Town of Huntington’s Project Play this summer.
The four Huntington seniors formally received their scholarships during a Rotary Club luncheon at Mac’s Steakhouse in Huntington village.