Community
Summit County sheriff’s Capt. Dale Soltis and deputies David Fatheree and Provie Tomei were recognized for distinguished achievements in public service by the American Police Hall of Fame. The nonprofit organization in Titusville, Fla., was founded to honor officers killed in the line of duty but since has developed a national award program to recognize community service and acts of valor. The three officers are affiliated with the sheriff’s Training Bureau in Green.
The Akron Urban League will honor seven local women at its second annual Women of Power luncheon in November. The honorees are Ophelia Averitt, former president of the Akron chapter of the NAACP; Tracy Carter, director of government affairs and health policy for the Summa Foundation; Georgette M. Constantinou, administrative director for the psychiatry/psychology department at Akron Children’s Hospital; Flora Novella Randall Dees, retired founding executive director of Project GRAD Akron; longtime civic organizer Mary Ann Jackson; Akron councilwoman-at-large Linda Omobien; and Jacqueline Silas-Butler, executive director of Project GRAD Akron.
A Cuyahoga Falls teen is the top National Park Service youth volunteer in the Midwest. Brianna Machuga, a junior at Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, is the winner of the Midwest Region’s George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service-Youth Award. She is a finalist for the national award. Brianna volunteers in Cuyahoga Valley National Park as an actress, office assistant and program assistant for youth and for special events programs.
Medina Police Sgt. Darin Zaremba attended the selective FBI Great Lakes Leadership Seminar at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station this month. Zaremba has been a Medina officer for 17 years.
Education
Stefan Harrigan of North Canton was awarded a full merit scholarship to attend the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West in Montezuma, N.M. Stefan was one of 50 students selected as Davis Scholars for the two-year high school that also has campuses in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Costa Rica and other countries.
Michael Ankrom, a 12th-grade teacher at Manchester High, was named the Summit County 2012 Teacher of the Year at the Summit County Education Celebration. He has taught government, global studies and other courses at Manchester for 21 years.
The Pierian chapter of the Mortar Board at the University of Akron was among the chapters to be recognized as outstanding at the 2012 Mortar Board National Conference. The UA chapter received the Silver Torch Award. Chapter president is Alexander Lanshe. Mortar Board is a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for achievement in scholarship, leadership and service.
Sham Shelkay and Gurbani Kaur of Copley were among five students at Hathaway Brown honored in the 2012 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Gurbani, the only high school student in Ohio to be named a finalist, will advance to the final round of competition for her drug-delivery research at Case Western Reserve University. Sham was named a finalist for her research in cardiology. Hathaway is a college preparatory school for girls in Shaker Heights.
Hospitality management students at the University of Akron won three first-place awards at the National Collegiate Fruit and Vegetable Carving Competition. Team members were Mary King, a hospitality management alumna working toward a bachelor’s degree in organizational supervision; hospitality management student Jennifer Bogart; and Tori Cunningham, an Akron Early College High School student. King also took first place in the “individual” competition category.
Military
Navy Seaman Nicholas J. Abbott, son of Lori J. Abbott of Akron and Albert E. Abbott of Morrisonville, N.Y., completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill. He is a 2002 graduate of Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls.
Send notices of school, community and military achievement to Carol Biliczky at cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com or fax them to 330-996-3033.