Commack’s Katherine Kelly and Newfield’s Loui Chen Win Dellecave

Pictured: Dellecave Award winners Loui Chen of Newfield and Katherine Kelly of Commack with, from left, Dellecave Foundation Co-Directors Guy Dellecave and Mark Dellecave, and Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk C.E.O. Adrian Fassett.

Commack High School senior Katherine Kelly and Newfield High School senior Loui Chen were recently honored with the Butch Dellecave Award at a ceremony held at Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook. Newfield is in Selden and is one of two high schools in the Middle Country School District.

Named in memory of the legendary educator, official, and coach Gaetano “Butch” Dellecave, the award is the product of a highly successful 19-year partnership between local school districts in Suffolk County and the award organizers: the Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk, the Butch Dellecave Foundation, and Newsday.

Athletic Directors from all sixty-six Suffolk County school districts are asked to nominate one male and one female from their high school senior class. Nominees must be students who are not only at the top of their game, but also score high in classroom performance and in their commitment to local community service.

Kelly was a high honor roll student and Business Honor Society president who excelled in three sports for Commack – soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. She will play on the Hofstra University lacrosse team next semester. Her lengthy volunteer resume includes team captain for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and student body liaison for the Sounds of Silence 5k/10k run/walk.

Chen was a Newfield fencing and soccer captain who also excelled academically, finishing as class valedictorian. He will be going to Yale in the fall. Chen also participated in a pre-college program at Stony Brook University where he performed on the piano and learned music theory. He also volunteered at Stony Brook Hospital and tutored other Newfield students.

About the Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk, Inc.

The Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk, Inc. – a not-for- profit 501(c)(3) community-based organization – has been serving Suffolk County for 52 years. It is the county’s federally designated Community Action Agency, designed to assist low-income families and individuals. The agency’s mission is to promote a goal of self-sufficiency by broadening the minds of children, revitalizing communities, and assisting families and children in need through coordination of public and private resources.