Kaylee Adams Wins TR Renaissance American Award

If ever an award fit a recipient to a proverbial “T,” it is Huntington High School Class of 2024 member Kaylee Adams and the Teddy Roosevelt Renaissance American Award. The teenager can truly be called a “Renaissance woman,” with expertise and experience covering a long list of areas.

This year’s TR Award recipient is comfortable with people of any age and background. “I’m going to University at Albany this fall to study biology on the pre-med track with the hope of becoming a trauma surgeon as well as joining the research for polio and Alzheimer's disease.”

The teenager’s high school experience “was very bittersweet because of Covid, but in the end it was worth it because I met great teachers that's supported me and friends that made school enjoyable and fun,” Ms. Adams said.

Highlights of the past four years include developing the high school’s Afro-Caribbean Heritage Club, AWOD (A World of Difference) club training sessions and joining the drama club.

Chairman of Humanities, 7-12 Joseph Leavy presented the TR Renaissance American Award to Ms. Adams during the high school’s departmental awards and scholarships ceremony before a crowd of about 300.

A proponent of the “strenuous life,” Mr. Roosevelt is one of the most colorful personalities in American history. He held a number of important public positions, including New York City police commissioner, state legislator, New York governor, assistant secretary of the Navy and vice president. Upon the assassination of President William McKinley in September 1901 he was sworn in as the United States’ 26th president.

Mr. Roosevelt’s face is depicted on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota along with fellow presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

As the leader of the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War, Mr. Roosevelt returned to the US as a war hero. He pursued political reforms and spurred the enactment of many conservation measures across the country along with breaking up business trusts and monopolies. He offered average Americans what he termed a “Square Deal,” which was based on fairness and focused on the conservation of natural resources, consumer protection (including pure food and drugs) and control of corporations.

Mr. Roosevelt established an estate in Oyster Bay that he named Sagamore Hill. It is managed by the National Park Service and open to the public. It served as summer White House during Mr. Roosevelt’s tenure as president.