Pine Island Chamber reveals 2024 Black Dirt Scholarship winners

The Pine Island Chamber of Commerce recently announced this year’s Black Dirt Scholarship winners. The Chamber is awarding four scholarships of $1,500 each to students who “demonstrate a commitment to and involvement in community volunteer service or community work experience.” Applicants are evaluated on their character and level of dedication to the service of others. This year’s winners are:

Olivia Holland

Holland will be attending Georgetown University to study history. Holland had been an Odyssey of the Mind competitor since the third grade. She is a two-time world champion, two-time silver medalist at world finals, six-time world finalist, and international Ranatra Fusca Creativity Award winner. In 11th grade she volunteered to be the head coach of the middle school team who succeeded as State champions. She was the co-founder and president of the High School Positive Psychology Club. She was the first female student sent from WVHS to represent the American Legion State Auxiliary at the state-wide leadership convention. As a Drama Club member since the eighth grade, she volunteered as Park Avenue Elementary’s student director and choreographer. She was a member of the French Club, Chamber Orchestra, Meistersingers (secretary), Student Government, National Honor Society, the Model United Nations (VP), and a Wildcat Ambassador, and tutored students in geometry, algebra, history, English and French. She co-organized a Ukraine UNISEF fundraiser and a WWF Prevent Wildfires fundraiser. In her essay she wrote “Success, as far as I am concerned, is finding the things that make you want to get up each and every morning, and implementing those things, regardless of how insignificant they may seem, to help better the world around you.”

Anastasiya Kuchynska

Kuchynska will be attending CUNY Hunter College to study biology on a pre-med track. She has volunteered as a math tutor, with the Junior Ambulance Corps, and as a dedicated horse groomer and assistant for Winslow Therapeutic Riding Center. Kuchynska was a member of the National Honor Society, varsity swim team, Chamber Orchestra and Mixed Chorus. Some of her awards include the Seal of Civics Readiness; Army Athlete Award; RPI Medal; HOBY WLC Ambassador; and the Tri-literacy Seal for English, Spanish, and Ukrainian. In her essay she wrote, “A person must also learn to be accepting of learning from others and accepting other viewpoints in order to grow in their knowledge. A successful person strives to be the best version of themselves as they can be, therefore, listening to other’s opinions and taking them in and gaining a new point of view will allow you to become more well-developed and thus successful in collaborating with others.”

Samantha Brady

Brady will be attending SUNY Oswego where she will be studying business. Like some of her fellow scholarship winners Samantha has volunteered over 100 hours of community service. With the WVHS Student Senate, she participated in food and clothing drives, and ran two cancer awareness basketball games last year. She ran the blood drive this fall and recruited 60 students to donate blood. She also ran fundraisers for prom and other class events. She was president of WVHS Homecoming Committee and has coached for the Warwick Youth Track Club. Brady was the mid distance captain of the varsity indoor track and field team when they won the division championship. She was a member of the group Fiddle Frenzy since the fifth grade, playing the violin with the group for community events as well as helping teach the younger children songs. As member of the WVHS Symphony Orchestra she became first chair. And finally, she was a member and vice-president of the WVHS Treble Choir. In her essay she wrote, “I would define a successful individual as someone who contributes positively to society, is open to learning, capable of adapting to change, works hard, and also maintains a healthy balance of work and family life. I try to keep these qualities in mind while thinking about my future and what I’d like it to look like. I try to stay as organized as possible and line up my priorities.”

Lena Jodry

Jodry will be attending Fordham University to study Political science and women, gender, and sexuality studies on a pre-law track. Jodry has served as a representative on New York State Senator James Skoufis’s Youth Advisory Council, as a WVHS representative on the Stakeholder Advisory Group for the renovation of a local park with the village of Warwick. She was secretary of the WVHS’s Youth in Government Program, and event chair of the Young Democrats of Orange County. She was a girl scout with Troop #206 since kindergarten. She was vice-president of the WVHS Drama Club and helped with the WVMS Drama Club and assisted younger students with the Warwick Reformed Church Theater Company. She was a member of the WVHS Treble Choir and Meistersingers participating in local Holiday Caroling. She was active in the WVHS Magazine, The Survey, and progressed from a staff writer to managing editor to editor-in-chief. And as co-founder and leader of Free Peer Tutoring Organization, she organized and ran free tutoring during COVID for K-8 students. In her essay Jodry wrote, “I want to devote the rest of my life to helping people whose identities fall under a misrepresented minority. I saw just how unfair the world around me was, and how different individuals who do not fit the ‘standard’ are not provided the same opportunities as those who do. I saw just how disproportionate the justice system is for disabled women, and I want to change this. I want to become an attorney with a focus on disability and women’s rights. I never want people to feel as if they do not deserve the same adequate representation as those who identify within the majority, because they do. I want to be a positive force in other people’s lives.”

The Pine Island Chamber of Commerce will celebrate these scholarship winners at the Annual Black Dirt Feast on Tuesday August 6, 2024.