Sag Harbor Lions Club Award Scholarships To Four Recent Pierson Graduates

Members of the Sag Harbor Lions Club and their guests from the community gathered at the Sag Harbor home of Paul Zaykowski and Jeanne Kane Thursday afternoon to honor four recent Pierson High School graduates with more than $40,000 in scholarship money.

Eve Iulo, the salutatorian of the class, received the top award of $20,000. She plans to attend Colgate University, where she will enroll in an interdisciplinary program that combines environmental studies, communications, and public engagement.

Iulo was student council president and co-editor of The Hypothetical student newspaper. She also participated in the Model UN and Environmental Club and was a founder of Girls Supporting Girls, a club that encourages young girls to embrace their femininity and dismantle gender stereotypes.

She volunteered at the Children’s Museum of the East End’s food pantry, was a Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program and served as co-president of the Pierson Interact Club. She has spent her summers working as an intern at CMEE and as a research assistant to Dr. Robert Swanda, who is researching COVID-19.

Reed Kelsey was the fourth ranked member of the class of 2022. He received a $10,000 scholarship and will attend Boston College, where he plans to major in environmental science. Kelsey participated in a number of sports, including basketball, golf, and baseball, at Pierson and was a member of the Honor Society, Model UN, and Environmental Club.

He helped raise more than $12,500 for Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Suffolk Project in Aquaculture Training (SPAT) program. Kelsey obtained a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation license to raise shellfish and is currently raising oysters and bay scallops.

Kelsey also volunteered with The Retreat, the Flying Point Foundation for Autism, Sag Harbor Helpers and as a standard bearer at the U.S. Open golf tournament. He has worked during the summers at Mill Creek Marina and Peconic Water Sports.

A second $10,000 award was given to Troy Remkus, who plans to attend Florida State University, where he will study international business or psychology. At Pierson, Remkus played basketball and ran cross country. He recently attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts and was named to the Honor Society and served on the Model U.N. at Pierson.

Remkus has volunteered with the Sag Harbor Veterans of Foreign Wars, Kathy’s Courage, the Sag Harbor Lions Club, the Wounded Warrior Project, the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society and Sag Harbor Fire Department. He has worked the summers at Dopo La Spiaggia restaurant in Sag Harbor and for the village as a dock hand.

Emily Glass, who will attend the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she will study theater, received the Community Award, which carries with it a $1,500 stipend.

Glass first got involved in theater when she was in the sixth grade and has participated in more than 20 shows, including traveling productions with the Book and Blanket Players from upstate and South Fork Performing Arts. She also served as assistant director of the Pierson Middle School production of “Annie.”

She earned her black belt in karate in 2021 and administered four different projects to advance in the discipline. She also volunteered with Rock Steady Boxing to help patients with Parkinson’s disease build strength and agility. She was a Girl Scout Silver Award winner and worked during the summers at the Sag Harbor Garden Center.

Dr. Patricia Turner, a Pierson graduate, professor of African American studies and World Arts and Culture, and former provost at the University of California Los Angeles, gave a brief talk following the presentation of the scholarships by Mark Poitras, a member of the selection committee.

After Zaykowski pointed out that he and Turner, a former classmate, did not agree politically, she took the opportunity to say she was proud they remained friends even though “we don’t see eye to eye on politics.” She said that ability to get along was one of the many skills she learned attending Pierson and growing up in Sag Harbor.

Turner told the gathering how she had recently seen two people, who were obviously recent immigrants, raising an American flag at a store in her neighborhood in Los Angeles. She said she noticed the respect with which they approached the task, saying “it reinforced my sense of citizenship, which is part of the value system” she learned in Sag Harbor.

She closed by urging the students to become both good citizens of the country and the world while working to protect the environment.