hese are the best and the brightest.

Some of Rockland County’s best athletes and brightest students gathered at the Pearl River Hilton last night for the 26th Rockland Scholar Athlete Awards Dinner.

Hosted by Tony Aiello of WCBS-TV, the dinner honored the 38 recipients of the Rockland Journal News Scholar-Athlete of the Week award for this school year.

Four scholarships of $1,000 each were presented by The Journal News. The recipients were Albertus Magnus boys soccer player Vinny Costa; Nyack baseball player Steve Albert; Clarkstown North softball player Deanna Minuto; and North Rockland girls lacrosse player Briana Warner.

“Just being nominated is a great honor,” Albert said. “I’m very happy to receive such an award. It means a lot to both myself, my parents … my coach (Dave Siegriest) is tearing up a little bit. It means a lot to a lot of people.”

John C. Green, vice president/ market development at The Journal News, presented the scholarships.

Another scholarship of $1,000 was awarded by the Steve Drummond Scholarship Foundation, in memory of the former Clarkstown High School three-sport athlete who covered sports for The Journal News for 26 years.

That scholarship was awarded to Suffern runner Caroline Heidt, who was a member of the 4×1-mile relay that broke the national girls outdoor record at the Eastern States Championship at Iona Prep, finishing in 19 minutes, 56.75 seconds.

Bob Baird, Rockland columnist for The Journal News who was the managing editor when the program’s first award was given out in 1980, spoke about the history of the honor.

Albertus Magnus senior Kevin McGuire stepped up to the podium as well, to give an award-winner’s perspective and talk about the hard work and dedication needed to achieve your goals.

Debbie Grant, a scholar-athlete award winner in 1982, her junior year at Ramapo, also spoke at the reception.

The five-time state champion, who was part of a world- record-setting 4×800 relay team at Villanova, discussed the opportunities that scholar-athletes create for themselves through their dedication. Grant left Villanova with a master’s degree in civil engineering and works for Royal Dutch Shell.

“Your striving, your determination and your dreams make a difference to those around you,” Grant said.

Source: www.thejournalnews.com

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