Lilyana Rodriguez patiently stood for photographers, enduring the cold wind swirling around her as she held her certificate in front of the Nassau County Firefighter’s Museum & Education Center in Garden City.
The 5-year-old Massapequa kindergarten student was the winner of a state-wide contest to give a name to the museum’s mascot, a 25-foot-tall Dalmatian that sits on the museums’ façade. The mascot’s new name was meant to reflect a trait that is associated with firefighters—Valiant.
The Dalmatian puppy, which is a large part of the building’s new façade, was designed by H2M architects and engineers. H2M’s Director of Architecture, Joe Mottola, who is a Massapequa volunteer firefighter and a museum board member, volunteered H2M’s services to design the façade. The project improved the appearance of the museum and introduced a signature museum icon, highly visible to the surrounding area to attract visitors and providing wayfinding signage for the museum’s entrance. The project team for the design also included Massapequa residents, designers Katie Stone and Patrick Stone, who is also a volunteer with the Massapequa Fire Department.
“I feel great about naming the dog and having a party with everyone to celebrate Valiant,” said Lilyana. “I had a lot of fun playing with my friends at the museum and learning about fire safety and becoming a firefighter and I was excited to be on the news. Thank you to the people at the Firefighters Museum for everything.”
The idea for the competition originated after the dog was added to the building in October.
“We decided that we would try to get people involved with the naming of the dog,” said museum director Alana Petrocelli. “We didn’t want to just name it, so we put a contest out there, and we got a couple hundred entries, and today we’re announcing the winner.”
“[We’re] very excited for her,” said Crystal Rodriguez, Lilyana’s mother.
After one of Rodriguez’s friends posted the contest on Facebook, she sat down with her daughter and asked if she wanted to be a contestant. After Lilyana said yes, they started their research.
“I gave her a little background information about the dalmatian and how they helped early on with firefighters…I said ‘What do you want the name to mean?,’” and she said ‘Well, firefighters are brave, so I want it to mean brave.’” So we looked in the dictionary to find the meaning of brave and to find words that meant it.”
Petrocelli called the Rodriguez family to deliver the good news that Lilyana was the winner and that she would get a museum tour and a special party with her friends.
“She was very excited, and she wanted to tell everybody, and she didn’t, not even at school. I told her it was very important not to say anything about the name, about her winning, and for a 5-year-old, that’s very difficult,” said Crystal. “She had to have very good self-control not to tell anybody before today.”
Along with her certificate, Lilyana was also given a cake adorned with her and the mascot’s names, a mini firefighter’s uniform and a picture of Valiant.
Massapequa’s fire department and firefighters, using a 100-foot ladder truck, lifted Massapequa firefighters and museum personnel up 30 feet to the Dalmatian puppy’s collar to display the mascot’s new name on a bone-shaped dog-tag.
Lilyana’s big brother, Zackary, expressed his pride for his little sister.
“I feel happy and excited for her, because I never won anything this big, and it’s happy for me because I get to see her winning something big and I’m part of it,” he said.
The museum’s wish for a whimsical, kid-friendly design has been beautifully fulfilled, thanks to Lilyana and Valiant.
—Additional reporting by Carolyn T. Stone
