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Hannah Smith |
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The twenty-first recipient of the Angela Coniglio Memorial Scholarship, presented at the Amherst Central High School Awards Assembly on June 9, 2017, was Hannah Smith. Hannah received a $1,000 award.
IHannah
was a Varsity Soccer and Varsity Lacrosse player in each of her four
years at Amherst, and on the Varsity Basketball team for three
years. She was the Most Improved Player for Basketball and Offensive
MVP for both Lacrosse and Soccer. |
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Dear Coniglio Family, I cannot begin to express how honored I am to have received the Angela Coniglio Memorial Award. It is an absolute honor for me to be receiving this award given the fact that I look up to many of the previous recipients. I would first and foremost like to thank you for your unwavering generosity over the years. After listening and reading about Angela I have gotten more of an idea of who Angela was as a person. A kind-heart and compassionate individual who was a deeply devoted teacher, athlete, coach, and friend to many. As shown by all of the letters from former students, faculty members, family members, and friends, it is clearly evident that Angela left a lasting impact on many people's lives. I hope that someday I will be able to say the same for myself. As I read through the booklet I began to realize how similar Angela and I truly are. Like Angela, soccer is my favorite sport. I've played soccer for 13 years on both school and travel teams through the town of Amherst. I played soccer, basketball, and lacrosse for Amherst every year from 7th through 12th grade. One of the funniest similarities that I found was that Angela's brother called her "the flea". Whenever I played defense in basketball my parents would call me a "pesky gnat" because I would be all over the people I was def ending. Another similarity between Angela and I is that we both wore number nine. I've worn number nine for both soccer and lacrosse for as long as I can remember. When I was younger I would always go out and play games with the boys in my neighborhood. Sitting around and playing with dolls never interested me; but being outside, playing games, and getting dirty was more my forte, just like Angela. Hearing about Angela and Jimmy reminds me of how I was with my friend Sean. In elementary school my parents requested that my older brothers and I be put in inclusion classrooms so we could learn how to help others and be caring toward kids with developmental disorders. One of my best friends from kindergarten was Sean who had Down Syndrome. Sean and I were inseparable and did everything together. Sadly Sean and I were never in classes together after kindergarten but whenever I see him I still smile and wave. Reading about all of Angela's accolades not only athletically, but also academically and personally is truly inspiring to me. Next year I plan to attend SUNY Cortland where I'll be pursuing a major in inclusive elementary education. I also plan on playing on the club soccer, or lacrosse team at Cortland. I hope to one day be even half of the teacher that Angela was. Once again I would just like to thank you for giving me both the honor of receiving the award and the opportunity to get to know such an astounding woman like Angela. I really enjoyed meeting you Mr. Coniglio, and I look forward to keeping in touch with you in the future.
Hannah Smith |
