13 Scholarships Awarded At Santora Dinner Dance

The Christopher Santora Memorial located at St. Michael's Cemetery.

The sixth annual Christopher Santora Educational Scholarship Dinner Dance will be held at Riccardo's by the Bridge in Astoria, on Friday, June 15 from 7 p.m. to midnight. All are invited to attend.

At the dinner-dance, 13 scholarship winners, the Christopher Santora Educational Scholarship Fund Man of the Year and the Fund Guardian Angel will be honored. The Christopher Santora Educational Scholarship Fund and its major fundraising event, the dinner dance, honor the memory of Christopher Santora, who, along with 342 of his brother firefighters, lost his life on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Man of the Year for 2007 is Anthony Gardner, executive director of the World Trade Center United Family Group. Gardner is being honored, not only for his continued involvement in 9/11 issues and for his organization's support of Sept. 11, 2001 families, but also for his creation of a curriculum for high school students, teaching and educating what actually happened on that hate-filled day. Gardner's curriculum will include not only lesson plans for teachers but also interviews with family members, construction workers, rescue workers, residents, politicians, volunteers and office workers who worked near the site. In addition the curriculum will include thought-provoking questions to help students discuss how to work on hatred and fear and tolerance.

The Fund's Guardian Angel for 2007 is City Councilmember Eric Gioia. Gioia has supported the organization from the beginning and was able to secure funds from the City Council to help award scholarships to students in the community.

Christopher Santora, like his mother, Maureen, had been a teacher in the New York City public school system. He left academia to follow in the footsteps of his firefighter father, retired New York City Fire Department Deputy Chief Alexander Santora. Christopher Santora had been a member of Engine 4, Manhattan, for only two months before he lost his life tragically on 9/11.

Scholarships are awarded to students attending elementary, junior high school or high schools that Christopher attended or where he taught before turning down a position at I.S. 10, Astoria to become a Fire Department "probie". Scholarships at the high school level are also awarded to the sons and daughters of firefighters at local fire companies and companies where Christopher served. The Kathleen Parrett Memorial Award, named for a teacher at P.S. 122 who died of cancer three years after Christopher Santora, and the George and Veronica Crethan Scholarship, named for Maureen Santora's parents, are also presented.

Scholarships are awarded to students who can engage the essay judges in a topic taken from current political or historical forums. The topic for the 2007 scholarship essay was: In America we make decisions by majority rule. As a future voter, how far can we go to ensure that politicians get to see both sides of an argument?

+ Should special interest groups (lobbyists) be able to influence our elected officials?

+ If you think that lobbyists should have access to elected officials, why do you?

+ If you think that lobbyists should not have access to elected officials, how do elected officials get the information they need to make thoughtful decisions?

+ Are there specific suggestions you can make to help our elected officials make thoughtful and fair decisions? Name two or three and explain how these would help.

The 13 scholarship winners of the 2007 Christopher Santora Educational Scholarships are: elementary school, Steven Nakhwal, P.S. 2, Jackson Heights and Angelica Rivera, P.S. 122, Astoria; junior high school, Gabriela Campoverde and In Hwan Cho, both of I.S.10, Astoria; eighth grade, Wilson Lai, I.S. 227, East Elmhurst, and Daisy Oukaour, I.S.141, Long Island City; and high school, Joshua Blenner, Bayside H.S., Kaitlyn O'Keefe, Engine 307; Patrick Rooney, Ladder 4; Thomas McCarthy, Ladder 127 and Alexandra Reich, Ladder 156. Faheem Zaman, an eighth-grade student at P.S. 122, received the Kathleen Parrett Memorial Award and Gioemi Orofino, a student at Long Island City H.S., received the George and Veronica Crethan Award.

Everyone is invited to attend the Christopher Santora Educational Scholarship Dinner Dance. For more information, visit www.ChristopherSantora.com; to purchase tickets, contact Journal@ChristopherSantora.com, call 718-626-4215 or fax 718-626-9048.