State Senator Shelley B. Mayer awarded 30 students in the 37th Senate District with the 2024 Citizenship Award and 13 students with the Youth Leadership Award on Thursday, June 13 at Blind Brook High School. Senator Mayer’s Citizenship Award recognizes students who have made exemplary contributions through community service, extracurricular activities, or daily actions to serve their schools or community. The NYS Senate Youth Leadership Award recognizes outstanding high school students for excellence in the classroom, athletics, and in extracurricular or community activities. Each student was nominated by a teacher or school administrator.

Senator Mayer led a roundtable discussion with the student recipients to showcase their activities and to learn more about each student’s work for their communities. The students were able to discuss the initiatives they pursued and the ideas they have. Senator Mayer then presented the students with certificates of achievement for their outstanding involvement in the community. 

Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, “I am delighted to present the 2024 Citizenship Awards and Youth Leadership Awards to these remarkable students in my district. They have all done excellent work in the community, investing much of their time and energy into making Westchester a better place for us all. As Chair of the Senate Education Committee, I am inspired by their work, and I appreciated learning their stories and hearing about their plans for the future. I would like to thank Principal Dr. Jennifer Chirles and Blind Brook High School for hosting this ceremony.”

Local Youth Leadership Award Honorees were: 

• Anais Brown, Academic, Rye Neck High School  

• Julia Fenigstein, Community Service, Scarsdale High School

• Grayson Findlay, Academic, Rye Neck High School

• Fiona Fox, Arts, Rye Neck High School

• Riley Hendrickson, Community Service, White Plains High School

• Charlotte Lipman, Arts, Rye Neck High School

• Lucie Paumier, Academic, Rye Neck High School

• David Ryan, Athletics, Rye Neck High School

• Vanessa Thurman, Community Service, Scarsdale High School

• Justin Zhang, Academic, Scarsdale High School

The Citizenship Award Honorees were:

• Saliou Seck, Mamaroneck High School

• Joshua Grimes, Mamaroneck High School

• Shea Lewis, Bronxville High School

• Kathleen Korb (Katie), Bronxville High School

• Jacob Liberati, Tuckahoe High School 

• Skyler Brice, Tuckahoe High School

• Nicholas Murphy, Rye Neck High School

• Sofia Stastny, Rye Neck High School

• Ann Elena Gombiner, New Rochelle High School 

• Gabrielle Roberge, New Rochelle High School

• Tyler Beardsley, Harrison High School 

• Nolan Regan, Harrison High School

• Kimaya Agarwal, Rye High School

• Alex Mathews. White Plains High School

• Emma Kelly, Eastchester HS

• Kelly Hyland, Eastchester HS 

• Christina Semple, Scarsdale High School

• Carolyn Chen, Scarsdale High School