Twelve inspirational stories and 6Gs in awards at 10th STEER graduation banquet at Casino Royale
June 19, 2024 at 11:23 p.m.
Graduation came early for 12 of Port Chester's most outstanding senior student-athletes with five winning scholarships totaling $6,000 and priceless inspirational stories galore emerging from appearances and testimonials by Rams and Lady Rams past, present and future greats.
It all took place during the 10th annual STEER for Student Athletes Graduation Banquet May 30 at the Casino Royale in Yonkers.
Those who were there will never forget it. Because the gathering serves as an annual reminder of how much STEER means to Port Chester and the student-athletes who benefit from all the non-profit organization offers, from free after school tutoring sessions to college application help. And from motivational workshops to assistance with travel team funding. And a lot more.
The top-tier STEER grads
This year, all 12 Port Chester STEER graduates will be going on to college, each with their own individual success stories, from Alexandra (Alee) Cruz, one of the school's best students academically (98.2 GPA) and middle distance runners, to basketball ace Guillermo (Memo) Zabala, the school's outstanding male athlete, who came to Port Chester two years ago from the Dominican Republic and couldn't speak a word of English until STEER helped him with the ABCs.
Port Chester School District teacher Rich Laconi with STEER mentee Guillermo Zabala., basketball ace who transferred from the Dominican Republic and couldn't speak English when he came here. Laconi was among the STEER instructors who helped him learn the language.Courtesy of STEER for Student Athletes
Also among the honorees were the school's outstanding female athletes in the versatile, multi-sport-talented Samantha (Sam) Munoz and Taby Sanchez, two returning former Ram and Lady Ram greats in football's Melvin Molina and soccer's Lesly Morocho and two ex-Rams and Lady Rams turned Port Chester teachers honored for their excellence as STEER student-athlete advisors.
The complete list
The STEER graduates of the class of 2024 are listed below along with the colleges they will be attending and the sports they played:
Bayron Aguirre (soccer) - University at Albany
Alexandra Cruz (Track & Field) - University at Albany
Christian Flores (cheerleading) - Pace University
Julian Lopez (All-League soccer) - Mercy University
Sophia Maldonado (Lady Rams All-League soccer) - Sacred Heart University
Samantha Munoz (Lady Rams All-League basketball, All-League Honorable Mention soccer) - Syracuse University
Valeria Novoa (Lady Rams All-League soccer) - Iona University
Adrian Osorio (first male cheerleader to win Division One cheerleading scholarship) - University of South Florida
Tabata Sanchez (Lady Rams All-League softball, All-League soccer Honorable Mention, wrestling) - SUNY Delhi
Yanairis Tejada (volleyball) - Mercy University
Alejandro Velasquez (football, wrestling, T&F) - Iona University
Guillermo Zabala (All-Section, All-Conference, All-League basketball) - Arizona Western College
The scholarship winners include:
The $1,500 John Evans Scholarship awardees: Velasquez and Colin Taylor, the ex-Ram football quarterback, sprinter and All-Section/All-League T&F school record holder in the long jump who graduated last year.
The grants and the stories
The various $1,000 Byron Womack awards: Munoz (leadership), Cruz (scholarship), Flores (advocacy); also wrestling coach Joe Facciola and Jackie Bisignano, both teachers in the Port Chester School District (excellence as student advisors).
About those inspirational stories: Zabala came here from the Dominican Republic to live in the projects with his father and new family, cried himself to sleep because he had difficulty learning to speak English, let the basketball do his talking for him on the court, scoring 60 points in a single game to set the school record, averaged 33 points per game to lead Section 1 in scoring, and won an even better game by learning to speak English with STEER advisors like mentor Rich Laconi and former head hoops coach Manny Martinez and became a STEER honors student.
Jenna Lividini, teacher in the Port Chester School District and assistant Lady Rams varsity basketball and volleyball coach, with STEER mentee Adrian Osorio, the first male varsity cheerleader in Port Chester High School history.Courtesy of STEER for Student Athletes
And then there's Alee Cruz with that 98.2 GPA earned while also working 40 hours a week after school in a supermarket bakery to help support her family, clocking into work after her distance-running practices in T&F and band practices playing the flute with Port Chester High School’s nationally ranked marching band.
Molina & Morocho
Here's a couple more: The motivational guest speakers included STEER grads Melvin Molina and Lesly Morocho, ex-Ram football and Lady Ram soccer greats. Molina, now working on Wall Street, made two of the greatest catches in Ram football comeback history during the past decade, catching the tying TD pass with less than 20 seconds to play under the lights against Scarsdale and then shaking loose to haul in the winning two-point conversion with less than eight seconds left on the clock.
"As those footballs came towards me, I realized what all those football practices were all about under head coach Paul Santavicca and understood what every one of those practices were all about," he told Westmore News. He went to Pace on a football scholarship.
Morocho learned the value of disciplined practices under two-time All-League Soccer Coach-of-the-Year Danny Alvarado, a STEER advisor. That discipline was put to good use during her Ivy League days at Cornell and in Teach for America NYC after completing her undergraduate studies.
STEER newbies entrance
The STEER graduation banquet was a moveable feast of inspirational stories whetting the appetites of the six new STEER student-athletes for what was yet to come during their upcoming days as Rams and Lady Rams, that group including Alexander Alvarez, Myisha Cruz, Britney Larrosa, Mariangel Osorio, Karla Sigua and Jake Vasquez.
While nobody can predict the future, experience has taught current STEER CEO Dr. Joseph Durney that good things tend to result from the STEER program. That know-how comes from more than 40 years of experience as a retired teacher, educator, coach, college professor, former athletic director and deputy superintendent in the Port Chester School District.
Eye on the future
The success of the Port Chester graduating class of 2024 accentuates the overall excellence of the STEER program with a 100% success rate in college placement. When it comes to doing the right thing in encouraging student-athletes’ potential, STEER believes that is simply what they do, and the best is always yet to come.
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