Twenty-One Students Honored at Hispanic Heritage Night

Supervisor Frank P. Petrone and the Huntington Town Council joined members of the Town’s Hispanic Task Force in honoring 21 outstanding high school students as part of the 22nd Annual Hispanic Heritage Celebration Program held at Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School October 21.

The Town Board and the Task Force presented Student Achievement Awards to:

• Evan Aguirre, a Huntington High School senior
• Lauren Anton, a Harborfields High School junior
• Luciana Arteaga, a Northport High School senior
• Melanie Bautista, a Harborfields High School junior
• Jeffrey Colon, a Cold Spring Harbor High School senior
• Andrew Connell, a Half Hollow Hills High School East senior
• Jessica Hastings, a Commack High School senior
• Kaidi Lopez, a Huntington High School senior
• Ariana Malik, a Half Hollow Hills High School East junior
• Wilfredo Mateo, a Half Hollow Hills High School East senior
• Emily Miron, a Huntington High School junior
• Isaac Morales, a Half Hollow Hills High School East junior
• Guadelupe Pedraza, a Half Hollow Hills High School East junior
• Mariel Quadrino, a Harborfields High School senior
• Enrique Ramos, a John Glenn High School junior
• Omar Ramos, a Walt Whitman High School senior
• Avel Rivera, a Northport High School senior
• Trevor Rosenlicht, a Commack High School junior
• Nicole Rosenthal, a Half Hollow Hills High School West junior
• Antonio Valencia, a Walt Whitman High School junior
• Gabriela Velasco, a Harborfields High School junior

The Community Service Award was presented the Rev. Rose Marie Meringola Gaines. A lifelong Huntington resident, the Rev. Gaines and her husband, the late Rev. Jimmie Gaines, founded the Helping Hand Rescue Mission in Huntington Station in 1965. For the past 51 years, the mission has provided thousands of persons with a kind word, prayer, bible study, food, clothing, household items, school supplies, Easter and Thanksgiving baskets and community programs. In the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy, the Helping Hand Mission provided food for displaced Huntington residents at Town shelters and warming centers. She founded the Happy Day Express children’s program, which spawned the Light of Salvation Church on New York Avenue. Currently, she also co-pastors the Half Hollow Community Church in Dix Hills with her daughter, the Rev. Kimberly Marie Gambino.

Dr. Javier R. Vieytez, a pediatrician who has practiced in Huntington Station since 2003, delivered the keynote address. Dr. Vieytez’ mother is Colombian and his father is Salvadoran. In his remarks, he spoke of growing up in El Salvador, being sent to high school in the United States because of civil strife in El Salvador and of returning there to attend college and medical school. He related the challenges of learning to practice medicine against the backdrop of the civil war there and spoke of how he completed his medical training at Nassau University Medical Center before opening practice on Long Island.

“As I stand with the members, children and young people in this community, as I talk to them every day and see the great potential that each one of them has, their challenges become mine. As I try to find ways to help them overcome them, first in their own spirits and minds, and help them believe in themselves that they are great and can realize their potential and dreams, but that they have to believe that first,” Dr. Vieytez said in concluding his remarks. “Finding our way in life is easier if we make the most of every blessing and opportunity that is available to us, and if we are willing to listen to the voices of life itself, which many times speak to us through our own hearts.”

Musical selections were performed by the Huntington High School Chamber Choir and the South Huntington School District’s Dual Language Super Stars.

The event was sponsored by the Palacios Law Group.