A handful of students heading off to college just got a boost from their local civic association.
Students Ava von Hof, Ian Lau, Amelia Liao, Anthony Puma and Thomas Tuzzolo were recipients of the Lakeville Estates Civic Association’s annual scholarships, which the organization’s president says are handed out based on community involvement and civic engagement.
“We don’t want the smartest kid, we don’t want the most athletic,” Lakeville Estates Civic President Bill Cutrone said. “We want the ones that are really sincere in giving back to the community.”
To be eligible for the scholarships, which this year were $1,000 each, students must be civic association members and contribute to projects or initiatives the organization works on, Cutrone said. He said these students went above and beyond in their work, with many engaged in volunteer shifts in freezing temperatures during the annual polar plunge for charity and helping out with the organization’s annual shredding event and 8K Marathon.
In addition to conventional civic volunteering, von Hof coaches young swimmers in the community. Lau purchased and planted flowers in the association’s communal planters, baked cookies at Ronald McDonald House, helped clean up Clinton G. Martin Park, served ice cream at the annual neighborhood summer social and fundraised for Los Angeles firefighters by selling artwork.
“I’m very grateful that these students stepped up with different projects,” Cutrone said. “No matter how small it might have been to them, in comparison to all the other things that they do, it was something huge to us. Having them there made our projects easier and more functional and helped expand our capacity.”
Liao has also supported Northwell patients, crocheting over 100 hats and roughly a dozen blankets for cancer patients as well as greeting and guiding women in labor to the maternity ward. Puma volunteers with the junior fire department. Tuzzolo also volunteers at local hospitals and founded the nonprofit NoHouseWithoutHome, which raises money and collects professional attire to support the island’s homeless population.
The winners hail from local public high schools like Herricks, New Hyde Park Memorial and Great Neck South, and plan to attend colleges across the country, including the University of Tampa, Rutgers University and two SUNY schools, Binghamton and New Paltz.
Lakeville Estates Civic Association has given out $36,000 in scholarships since 2017. The funds come from membership dues and additional scholarship-specific donations from community members.
Cutrone said he made offering senior scholarships a priority when he took over the presidency about a decade ago, as he sees them as a way to give back to the community and engage young people in the civic.
“Community beautification and scholarships were first and foremost on our list of goals,” Cutrone said. “We wanted to reach out to people who lived in the area who didn’t know that we existed and let people know that by joining, they’d be able to give back to our community…and our kids.”
Cutrone said students apply by filling out a standard application, which the civic offers to all young members. Those applications are reviewed by an independent decision-maker from St. John’s University to ensure there is no bias in who is selected.
He said he hopes to see even more applicants next year and for the scholarships to motivate more high schoolers to contribute to their community through the civic.
“I already have people lined up for projects for next year who have built the lending libraries, who built a garden in the community,” Cutrone said. “Giving back to the community that develops leadership for the students as well. Hopefully, they’ll be the future civic leaders, the future scientists, future doctors that we all need.”
