Newsmakers for the week of
May 16, 2004

Kim Bunker and Anthony Randich, students at Bishop Kearney High School, have been chosen to be Peer Ministers. Juniors go through a highly selective application process and those who are chosen are required to also go through a training process. When the students return this fall as seniors, they serve the school as mentors for incoming students.

Both are residents of Hilton.

Four local residents received awards at the college's recent Honors Convocation.
  • Dawn M. Lawrence, a senior studying anthropology and journalism, received the Norman E. Whitten Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Anthropology. She is the daughter of William and Heidi Lawrence of Picturesque Drive, Rochester. She is editor-in-chief of the Oswegonian student weekly newspaper. She plans to pursue her Ph.D. in archaeology.
  • Amanda L. Slaver, a junior studying public relations, received the Robert C. Zeigler Memorial Scholarship. She is the daughter of Robert and Bonnie Slaver of Whitby Road, Rochester. She is a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America, Students In Free Enterprise, Del Sarte Dance Club and the College Choir. She plans to pursue a career in the field of advertising and public relations.
  • Erin M. Varley, a senior studying English, received the Oswego Woman Scholar-Athlete Award. She is the daughter of Thomas and Lisa Varley of Forest Avenue, Rochester. She is a member of the Oswego women's swim team and plans to attend graduate school.
  • Lisa A. Wallace, a senior studying human development, received the Outstanding Senior in Human Development Award. She is the daughter of Allan and Patricia Wallace of Valencia Drive, Rochester. She is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and vice president of Vega. She plans to attend graduate school for counselor education, health education or early childhood education.
  • Joseph P. Luciano, of Greenridge Crescent, Hamlin, received the Robert Davis Helsby '40 Memorial Award. Luciano, a sophomore studying technology education at Oswego, is the son of Peter and Janet Luciano. He is a member of the Oswego Juggling Club, Oswego Technology Education Association, Brothers and Sisters in Christ and the Liberty Partnership Program. He plans to become a technology teacher. The formal ceremony, complete with a procession of selected faculty and college officers in full academic regalia, is sponsored each spring at Oswego by Vega, the undergraduate women's honor society. The audience of about 400 people included parents, faculty, staff and students.

Janel Stepanek, daughter of Jeff and Linda Stepanek of Brockport, has been accepted into the honors program at Niagara University and will also receive a scholarship from the university.

Currently a student of Brockport High School, Stepanek will be studying special education when she begins her studies at Niagara University this fall.

To qualify for acceptance into the Honors Program, students must fulfill two of the following three criteria: finish in the top 10 percent of their high school class, attain total scores of 1100 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or 26 on the American College Test (ACT), or have a high school average of 90 percent or more.

Jeremy Peraza, of Spencerport, class of 2005, has been selected to participate in the National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC), a leadership development program for outstanding high school students. While attending the NSLC, Peraza will have the opportunity to study, experience and develop the skills and traits that define and identify a leader.

This year, approximately 8,000 gifted high school students from across the United States and from 45 countries around the world will participate.

Dianne Hickerson's watercolor "Apricots and Red Peppers," is currently on display in the Transparent Watercolor Society of America 28th Annual Exhibition of Transparent Watercolor. The exhibition continues through September 6 at the Elmhurst Art Museum, in Elmhurst. Illinois. The work is one of 75 paintings selected by Juror Mel Stabin from over 900 submissions.

Her painting "Ode to Spring" appears in an article in the spring issue of American Artist's Watercolor national magazine.

The paintings can be viewed at www. diannehickerson.com.

Hickerson, a Brockport resident, is a member of the Rochester Art Club; the Pittsford Art Group; a signature member of the North East Watercolor Association; and a signature member of the Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society. Three of her works are in an exhibition entitled "Wet & Fresh: A survey of Current Watercolor in Western New York, at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center on the Buffalo State College campus through June 27.

Jessica Lynne Schultz of Park Road, Churchville, and a graduate of Rochester School for the Deaf and a transfer student from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, has been accepted for the fall semester 2004 at the SUNY College at Brockport. She tentatively plans to major in physical education.

She has been a volunteer at Camp Abilities, was named to the spring 2003 dean's list at Gallaudet University, has served as an interpreter for MWABD (Metro Washington Association for the Blind and Deaf) for community service, was an All-Star honorable mention athlete (E.S.D.A.A. girls basketball tournament in 2002), and received the Shumway Award for outside community service.

Air Force Senior Airman Katie A. Reynolds has graduated from Airman Leadership School at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.

The school is the first of three levels of professional military education programs used to develop and cultivate leadership and supervisory skills, and is a required course for airmen to complete prior to being promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.

Reynolds is a medical service journeyman assigned to the 759th Surgical Operations Squadron. She is the daughter of Patricia E. Luce of Park Drive, East Rochester, and Michael Reynolds of Brockport.

The airman is a 1999 graduate of Brockport High School.