Photos: Celebrating service and studiousness

Helping others: Farnsworth Middle School eighth-grader André Valverde, right, stands with his principal, Michael Laster, as he displays the 2015 Lt. John F. Finn Community Service award he was given. The award is named in memory of Lt. John F. Finn, a 12-year veteran of the Albany Police Department who was killed in the line of duty. Laster holds a proclamation from the Albany County Legislature stating, “Valverde has dedicated his life to helping others without expecting anything in return.” Valverde is a Boy Scout who helped clean up Tawasentha Park; he serves as a tour guide for incoming sixth-graders, and as a waiter for the annual school concert fundraiser. Valverde has also volunteered to serve meals at St. John’s Welcome Table.

Schuylar Van Buren, a Berne-Knox-Westerlo senior who plans one day to open her own welding shop, has earned an American Welding Society scholarship for $1,700. She was inspired by her grandfather, a millworker, who, she said, “was always in the backyard, making things.”  She was taught to weld by Chris Lanese at the Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School. According to CTE, 94 percent of welders are male and the average age is 54. VanBuren plans to return to BOCES as an adult welding student.

— Photo by Anne Plummer
The National Blue Ribbon Carnival featured both indoor and outdoor festivities at Voorheesville Elementary School on June 12. The school was celebrating its designation by the United States Department of Education as a 2014 Blue Ribbon School; more than 7,500 of schools across the country have been presented with the award.