Kate Balm Garners Quentin Sammis Award

Kate Balm plans to study sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. She’s an intellectually sharp, articulate and highly informed young woman with a commendable sense of responsibility and a yearning to make the world a better place for everyone.

The Kiwanis Club of Huntington was so taken by Ms. Balm that the organization presented her with its prestigious Quentin Sammis Memorial Award in recognition of her work as president of Huntington’s Key Club chapter and her potential to ignite positive change in the lives for those who need it most.

The Quentin Sammis Memorial Award is given to individuals who show “great passion” for service to their school and community, according to Kiwanis Club officials Gil Picard and John Reilly, who presented a scholarship to Ms. Balm during Huntington High School’s senior scholarship awards ceremony.

Ms. Balm was recognized with a special certificate along with a check for $1,000, which represents the stipend that comes with the Quentin Sammis Memorial Award.

The teenager served as president of the high school’s Key Club chapter this past year. A member of seven separate academic honor societies, Ms. Balm played an integral role in all of the Key Club’s initiatives.

Captain of the Blue Devil varsity girls’ tennis team, Ms. Balm also won gold in chamber choir at the NYSSMA Majors. The teenager said the key to her success has been the hard work she’s put in to maintain her grades and status in Advanced Placement classes. She also credits the faculty and staff at the high school. She especially enjoyed the arts programs and creating lifelong friendships over the past four years.

Born May 16, 1924, Quentin Byron Sammis was a member of Huntington’s Class of 1942. He went on to serve his country as an ensign in the United States Navy, earn an electrical engineering degree at Georgia School of Technology (he began his college studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and an MBA at Harvard Business School, serve as owner and president of Coldwell Banker Sammis real estate and Sammis, Smith & Brush insurance and lead Friends World College as its president.

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers, dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time. The local chapter believes that Ms. Rind has the ability and determination to achieve great things for society and change the world for the better as she moves on to college and an eventual career in health care.

The Kiwanis Club considers the sponsorship of its service leadership programs, such as the Key Club to be among the most important projects it undertakes. The Key Club seeks to develop leadership, build character and provide service to the school and community.

Mr. Sammis founded the Townwide Fund of Huntington and the Huntington Arts Council and at one time or another was integrally involved in the YMCA, Huntington Hospital, the Visiting Nurse Service and the Family Service League. The Huntington High School graduate served in the US Navy during World War II and in the U.S. Navy Reserve for two decades.

Mr. Sammis, whose family has lived in Huntington village for generations dating to the Revolutionary War, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his loved ones on August 29, 2007 after battling cancer for 13 months. He was 83.