This year, the Bayonne High School Senior Awards Ceremony was supposed to be different than in past years.

Bayonne High School Principal Richard Baccarella had planned an outside event near the high school complete with red carpet. Award ceremonies in past year have been held at Hi-Hat Caterers near West 54th Street. But the outdoor event at the high school was supposed to be something special.

And then it rained.

So the June 7 ceremony was held in the school auditorium instead.

Although students didn't get the intended red carpet, they did get the red carpet treatment, Baccarella said. This included a host of side events including Bayonne Educational Network TV interviews with individual award winners that will be edited into a program and broadcast at some point later for the general public to view.

"This is one of the larger graduating classes," Baccarella said, describing the personality of the class as "smart and involved."

District Athletic Director Michael Pierson said the graduating class had a number of very talented athletes that will be remembered.

The award ceremony is one of the traditions of the school district, one of those events leading up to graduation that gives students time to realize what they have accomplished before moving on to the next level of their lives.

For the last 29 years, Christina Arszulowicz, a teacher at Bayonne High School, has put together these ceremonies, making certain all of the orchestrated elements come together in order to provide graduates and their families a moment they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Although the night's festivities were focused primarily on giving students their due, one moment touched many when teacher Justine Wanko was presented the Libowitz Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Wanko was selected by a majority of the graduating seniors as the teacher who influenced them most.

"It is an awesome responsibility," she said, her voice breaking into tears of joy, "and one that I do not take lightly. I pledge to continue to work arduously to meet the needs of the students that are trusted to my care."

Schools Superintendent Dr. Patricia McGeehan also provided the award ceremony with a special moment when she presented the Leadership Achievement Award to Lindsay Wanko.

McGeehan said Wanko had taken the lead in what eventually became a statewide effort to raise money for the Simpson Baber Foundation.

McGeehan, in a later interview, said each graduating class has a special project usually designed to raise money for some cause.

"I thought that it would be good if the class raised money for a local charity," she said, noting that this eventually resulted in the raising of $175,000 for the Simpson Baber Foundation.

Local residents remembered through scholarships

Although the ceremonies included many of the traditions of past years, including the naming of the valedictorian, salutatorian and the Circle of Ten, this year's ceremonies featured two local and meaningful awards.

Although not new this year, the Phil Spears Writer's Award - given by the Bayonne Writer's Group to Sarah Garcia and Amee Gronczewski - took on new meaning this year after the passing of W. Vincent "Vince" Cook, the group's founder.

"It was Vince's wish that we use the money left in the account to continue awarding scholarships for a long as possible," said Carmen Mack of the Writer's Group.

Cook was something of local phenomena, often acting as mentor for many local writers, as well as penning a column in the Bayonne Community News for decades.

New this year is the Daniel Janes Scholarship, donated by family and friends of a student of Bayonne High School who died last year. Gloria Pazmino received the award this year.

Although many of the awards students received during the ceremonies reflected national or state scholarships or even school departments, a good number of the scholarships came from local families who wish to give to the students, sometimes in the name of preserving the memory of a loved one.

The Dr. Cornelia Scholarship was awarded this year to Michael Roberts, the Bernard Ockene Award for BEN TV Teamwork went to Izabela Sliwowksi, and the Cleveland and Gladys Young Educational Scholarship to Salvator Martinez and Courtney Young.

The Edward M. Goldman Poetry Award was presented by Fritzi Goldman to Taylor Nowak. The Edmund Lyndeck Award for outstanding participation in dramatic productions went to Dominic Furina. The Hershel Silverman Poetry Award in memory of Bayonne poet Bruno Tarzia was given to Crystal Read.

The Isadore Chertoff Award for excellence in mathematics was given by the Chertoff family to Kaitlyn Golden. The Dr. Mitchell Mutterperl Award for excellence in biological sciences was given to Dana Levin. The Nicholas J. Occhino Award for science excellence was given to Amanda Khattab. The Diane M. Skutnick Memorial Scholarship for excellence in biological sciences was given to Sara Hassani. The Harmon Mudd Award was given to Shantee Henderson.

The Barney Stock Award was given to Dana Fonti. Randy Capriola Scholarships were given to Vincent Falzon and Heather Gear. Curves Scholarship was given to Rowfida Abdelhameed. De Sena Family Scholarships were given to Seham Elmalak and Kimberly O'Gara.

Other local awards include the William and Catherine C. Jacobson Scholarship to Courtney Young, E and E Kerta Foundation Scholarship to Anthony Good, Amee Gronczewski and Neil Wusu, William Lane Memorial Scholarship to Thomas Tokar, Dr. Richard Malanowski Scholarships to Sara Hassani and Santee Henderson, Pavola Rivera Scholarship to Adam Papalski and Melissa Voerth, Rebecca S. MacDonald Award to Krystyn Iorio, Rochelle Henriques Memorial Scholarship to Cory Hurd, Simpson Baber Foundation Scholarship to Lindsay Wanko, Aubrey Taylor Memorial Scholarship to Shantee Henderson, Frank Tirrito Memorial Award to Kristopher Swiatek, Francis Wilton Memorial Scholarship to Gregory Gerba, Albert Weisman Memorial Award to Neil Wusu.

The Lauren Wendroff Scholarship was given to Kaitlyn Turley, the Dr. David Morris Award to Shantee Henderson, and the Louis Wigdor Award to Dana Levin. Dr. McGeehan said this was a class that was particularly involved in public service.

"I was thrilled about the student achievements in academics and athletics," she said. "But this class was involved in the community and that was very rewarding for me."

Al Sullivan can be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com