Minneapolis – The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation announced the five finalists for the 2018 Hockey Humanitarian Award, which is presented annually to college hockey’s “finest citizen” for leadership in community service.

Camil Blanchet (Swanzey, N.H.) Senior, Forward, Bowdoin College

In addition to being a forward on the ice for the Polar Bears over the last four years, Camil Blanchet has been an exemplary member of the Bowdoin community. The McKeen Common Good Center representative to the Bowdoin Student Government, he is responsible for all communications with the student body. He has taken the initiative on numerous service efforts including the hockey team’s recent Cerebral Palsy Fundraiser Game, a fundraiser in conjunction with the football team for the American Cancer Society, and arranging 24 volunteers to assist with the “Race the Runway” half-marathon, a local road race that benefits numerous organizations, including Veterans No Boundaries and Coastal Humane Society.

Blanchet has also been a point person for the “Breaking the Bubble” initiative on campus, where he recruited 25 student-athletes to participate in community service leadership training. A graduate of Deerfield Academy, Blanchet is an Academic All-NESCAC honoree majoring in Neuroscience.

Courtney Pensavalle (Winchester, Mass.) Senior, Forward, Yale University

Pensavalle exemplifies what it means to be a student-athlete, active as a Division I varsity athlete and involved in a variety of ways around campus. The Yale senior hockey forward is a member of the acapella singing group composed of Yale student-athletes, the Unorthojocks. Pensavalle also currently serves as the lead drive coordinator for the Mandi Schwartz Marrow Registration Drive, partnered with Be the Match. She manages and executes the yearly spring drive in honor of former Yale teammate Mandi Schwartz.

She is dedicated to helping grow support for the annual White Out For Mandi game, as well as Be the Match and the Mandi Schwartz Foundation. The drive has led to over 30 lives saved and over 6,400 unique people being added to the bone marrow registry. The sociology major has also excelled in the classroom with a 3.9 GPA and multiple ECAC Hockey All-Academic selections.

Sidney Peters (Geneva, Ill.), Redshirt Senior, Goaltender, University of Minnesota

Sidney Peters’ contributions on the ice, in the classroom, and in the community at the University of Minnesota over the past five seasons are immeasurable. A left-handed goaltender majoring in kinesiology, Peters also is a certified Emergency Medical Technician. She has logged over 785 volunteer hours with various community outreach activities during her Gophers career, including a self-described life-changing trip to Haiti with Project Medishare where she spent eight days volunteering at Haiti’s only critical care and trauma hospital.

Her volunteer efforts also include serving as the head goalie coach for Hockey Ministries International in Chicago for two years, combining her love of the sport with her faith. Wise beyond her years, Peters brings a grounded perspective to the Gophers’ locker room and is the first to say that, while she loves the sport, there is more to life than hockey. Her teammates describe her as compassionate, dedicated, and thoughtful. Peters plans to attend medical school for fall 2018 with hopes to go into the military and eventually work for the Air Force.

Luke Rivera (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), Junior, Forward, SUNY Fredonia

Rivera came to Fredonia on a mission. The Pacific Palisades, Calif., native has seen his mother, Dana, battle back from a stroke that had left her paralyzed from head to toe. He had seen her undergo surgeries and rehab and get better and make speaking appearances to motivate other stroke survivors. Inspired by his mom, Luke approached Head Coach Jeff Meredith and asked to start a Stroke Awareness Game the following season. Camouflage red jerseys were ordered, a date was picked, and donations were solicited. The first event raised nearly $10,000, the second another $10,000 for The Foundation of Kaleida Health.

Even though Luke missed the entire 2017-18 season with an injury, he remained part of the team and its community engagement. Said Coach Meredith: “Luke’s work in the Stroke Awareness Game is testament to who he is as a young man and the level of care he has. Since his arrival in Fredonia he has wanted to make a difference in our community, and he truly has.”

Lauren Spring (Kelowna, British Columbia) Senior, Forward, The Ohio State University

Spring has spent four years being a leader both on and off the ice for the Ohio State women’s ice hockey team. She’s played in every game the team has had since first putting on the Scarlet and Gray in 2014, and is on pace to reach the top 10 in games played by a Buckeye in program history. In addition to playing in every game, she was named a co-captain of the team prior to the 2017-18 season.

Her leadership, however, extends beyond the ice. She made a “Soles for Souls” trip to Ecuador with other OSU student-athletes in May to distribute shoes to those in need. She’s also helped organize the team for Meals on Wheels events, and many other service opportunities. Lauren lives her life in a selfless manner, always working toward the best thing for the team and community around her.

Danny Divis and Justin McKenzie from Saint Michael’s College were named the 2017 recipients of the Hockey Humanitarian Award.

The 23rd recipient of the Hockey Humanitarian Award will be announced Friday, April 6th as part of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minnesota. Additionally, the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation will make a donation to the charity most important to each of the five finalists. These donations are made possible with the generous support of the award’s partners and donors.

“In the end, it’s not how many times you touch the puck, but how often you touch a life.”

 

https://www.ncaa.com/news/icehockey-men/article/2018-02-05/hockey-humanitarian-award-foundation-announces-five-finalists

The Hicksville Varsity Gymnastics team competed in the Cartwheel-for-a-Cure meet on Martin Luther King Day at Oceanside High School. Hicksville Gymnastics, led by coaches Matt Canty and Danielle Cecco, raised $362.00 dollars for the event in which all of the donations and proceeds were donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Hicksville would like to thank the following athletes for participating and showing their dedication and effort to make a difference in our community; Sydney Mathis, Arisa Toda, Carly Seiden, Nicole Whitacre, Adam Kaszovitz, Kayla Corbett, Angelica Golebiewski, and Shirley Joo.

Each year, kindergarten through second-graders in the Mineola Union Free School District participate in the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser.

This year, students at Meadow Drive School exceeded their fundraising goal of $8,000. With two weeks still left to collect and fundraise, the school has already raised its most money to date with $9,100. The Meadow Drive efforts are coordinated by physical education instructors Christine Gayson and Jim Durso.

 

Photo caption: Meadow Drive School students are jumping to combat heart disease.

 

Photo courtesy of Mineola Union Free School District

Photo caption: The Chiefs Challenge Club at Berner Middle School in the Massapequa School District organized a Souper Bowl. Students placed cans of soup and other nonperishable food items in boxes in the lobby based on which team they thought would win the big game. Donations were given to local food pantries at Yes Community Counseling Center and St. Rose of Lima Church. Principal Jason Esposito, left, and Executive Assistant to the Principal Beth Mullins, second from left, joined students with the donations.

 

Photo courtesy of Massapequa School District

Life is full of experiences. The good, the bad and the ugly; we all have our fair share of them as human beings. Some experiences are in our control, and others are completely out of it. To live a life rich in the “good” experiences is something that I strive for. I would like to share not only a good, but also an amazing experience that I recently had during winter break.

My name is Libby Mercuri, and I am a senior from Massachusetts: home to the greatest city in the world (with the best sports, too). I have been playing sports since the moment I held my first softball glove, and I continued on to play four incredible years of field hockey for Adelphi University. Being an athlete has shaped (and occasionally, forced) me to be a better person each passing day. This mindset is one that I carry with me through every obstacle and life experience that I endure.

I have grown up with a passion for social interaction and human connection. If you know me, you know that I could talk to anyone, for any length of time. You also know that helping people, in any capacity, is one of my greatest joys in life. Since I was a child I have found a sense of accomplishment and happiness in the simple task of making someone smile, or improving their life in the simplest of ways.

This is why, when choosing a college major my senior year of high school, I chose to pursue nursing.

Being in my fourth and final year of the nursing program here at Adelphi University, I can say with complete confidence that I have found my place in this life.

Over the course of this past winter break, I can say that I had my favorite life experience in 21 years of living.

On Jan. 6, I flew to Guatemala with 11 other AU students and two faculty members for a service-learning trip. After spending two days in the beautiful city of Antigua, we packed our things and traveled to a town called Panajachel, Guatemala, where the real service began.

We teamed up with a nonprofit organization called Mayan Families, who works to educate, feed, shelter and heal hundreds and thousands of indigenous men, women, children and elders living in extreme poverty. The employees at Mayan Families educated us on the history of Guatemala, the severe poverty rates in the area, as well as the struggle between the indigenous people and those who migrated to Guatemala many years ago. We toured the organization, where we visited the medical clinic and the education offices. We also visited the surrounding towns of San Antonio, San Jorge and Concepcion, where we endured many different, memorable experiences.

We visited the first and only recycling/compost plant in the entire province, where locals bring their garbage, food remains and recycling materials to prevent damage to the lake. We also spent an afternoon with a handful of elderly men and women living in poverty, who come Monday through Friday for a free lunch provided by the Mayan Families organization to prevent nutritional problems that could inhibit their ability to survive. One of Mayan Families’ favorite buildings is an animal shelter, where they nurture rescued strays from their desolate lives in the streets.

After spending only two hours at this shelter, I fell in love with one of the dogs and actually just signed the paperwork to adopt him: he will be in the U.S. in early February with a new home!

Lastly, we spent the majority of our time in Panajachel building and installing wood-burning stoves into the homes of families living under the poverty line. Nearly all of these families were composed of three or four adults (mom, dad, grandparent, etc) and at least four children. And nearly all of these homes consisted of only two or three very small rooms, some with four beds that sleep nine people, and others with barely enough room to hold a sack of corn kernels and a sink with running water. Installing stoves for these families seemed like such a mundane task at first, until we completed the task and realized just how meaningful it truly was. We were not just providing these families with a safer method to cook their meals – we were providing these families with a sliver of hope that there are in fact people in this world who want to help them, and to improve their lives.

To sum it up, I witnessed a level of poverty and a lack of healthcare that I did not fully think could exist in this world.

But somehow, I also witnessed the most incredible thing: bliss. These people were not sad, they were not defeated, and their heads did not hang low.

The families I met in this country were the most appreciative, gracious, and kind people I have ever met in my life. Their physical health was weak without a doubt, but their mental health was so strong and apparent to those who interacted with them.

Balancing the life of being a nursing major and an athlete can be a real challenge at times. I have had to learn a great deal of time management strategies, teamwork skills, and even occasionally ways to try to preserve my sanity. But doing service for others, and especially going to Guatemala to work with Mayan Families, those challenges became nonexistent to me. I am eager to see what “challenges” life will throw my way after I graduate in May, and I look forward to my next life-changing experience.

 

http://www.aupanthers.com/news/2018/2/2/general-panther-podium-libby-mercuri.aspx