Officers for the Holley Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society present Ricky Palermo with a check for $350 for the Ricky Palermo Foundation to benefit those with spinal cord injuries. Shown are (l-r) Ricky Palermo, Treasurer Mikayla Hargreaves, Secretary Heather Winkley, President Nicole Boyle, and Vice President Taylor DeSimone. Provided photo. Holley Middle School/High School held its 24th Annual Induction Ceremony on March 27 to welcome 25 seventh and eighth graders into the Holley Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society. During the ceremony, current members went into the audience and brought new members up on stage. NJHS officers then described the qualities required for membership – character, scholarship, leadership, service and citizenship – and lit a candle symbolizing each of the qualities.
Superintendent Robert D’Angelo and Middle School/High School Principal Susan Cory welcomed the new members with certificates, and the new inductees recited the NJHS oath. In order to be eligible for the National Junior Honor Society, students must have an academic average of at least 90 percent; they must apply for the honor, and be selected by a faculty council based on the five qualities of membership.
The new inductees are: eighth graders Amber Becker, Danielle Bevins, Dana Frisbee, Sienna Steier, and Brady Smith; and seventh graders Lisa Alemu, Christopher Balys, Hannah Beidlingmaier, Anna Brasted, Andrew Cary, Claudia Drechsel, Makenzie Ferranti, Isaiah Flow, Megan Fribance, William Harrington, Megan Hatfield, Dylan Hillabush, Taylor Kimmerly, Jessica Mandigo, Alice McAllister, Veronica Mendoza, Cassandra Mohney, Garrett Moy, James Skehan, and Diana Yaroshchuk. Their advisor is Kelly Evans.
The highlight of the ceremony was guest speaker Ricky Palermo, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident in 1981, and has since raised $720,000 for spinal cord injury research and rehabilitation through the Ricky Palermo Foundation. National Junior Honor Society members presented Palermo, the brother of Jim Palermo, Holley physical education teacher, with a check for $350 for his foundation. They raised the money by selling carnations and cookies. “I’m glad to be chosen to accept this wonderful donation,” he said. “You are young honor students, but already there are younger eyes looking up to you. You can thank the person that you looked up to for that.”
Palermo also told the students that their donation will have far-reaching benefits. Money from his foundation goes to the United Memorial Medical Center’s Emergency Room to stabilize patients with spinal cord injuries; the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Spinal Unit to help patients recuperate from surgery; Genesee County YMCA’s Bike Program to help patients rebuild muscles and stay in shape; and The Miami Project for research to cure paralysis. Palermo showed the audience a video about the great strides being made by The Miami Project in strategies for the repair of damaged spinal tissue.
