Walter G. O'Connell Copiague High School recently held its eighth annual spring varsity sports awards dinner, spon­sored by the Booster Club, honoring the best and brightest of the Spring 2008 season. This season the district honored members of the boys and girls track, softball, boys and girls lacrosse, and baseball teams.

Golden Key: The Section XI Gold Key Award, the highest Section XI honor that an athlete can receive, was given to seniors Vincent Aponte, Dominique Cunningham, Vanessa Destime, Rocco DiPietro, Sam DiPietro, Randy Marine, Dwayne Stewart, Jamal Walker, and Christine Wilkinson. They are pictured with their coaches. Continuing a yearly tradition, special awards in memory of Daniel O'Connell and Jarred Pennington were awarded to members of the varsity baseball and lacrosse teams. This year the Daniel O'Connell Memorial Award and $1,000 scholarship was presented to senior Sean Johnston and the Jarred Pennington Me­morial

Award was given to senior Dwayne Stewart. A scholarship to attend a summer lacrosse camp in Jarred's name was given to seventh grader Isaiah Stewart. Dwayne Stew­art was also the recipient of the Walter Reese Award and received a $1,000 scholarship. The Section XI Gold Key Award, the highest Section XI honor that an athlete can receive, and Golden Eagle awards were also presented at the ceremony. The Gold Key is awarded to student athletes who letter in eight Junior Varsity or Varsity seasons in grades 10-12. This year's recipients were Vincent Aponte, Dominique Cunningham, Vanessa Destime, Rocco DiPietro, Sam DiPietro, Randy Marine, Dwayne Stewart, Jamal Walker, and Christine Wilkinson. The Golden Eagle award is given to a student on each team who had the highest cumulative grade point average for the season. For the spring season, Vanessa Destime - girls track, Jonli Falk - baseball, Daniel Kurzyp - boys lacrosse, Emily Hall - girls lacrosse, Annelise Muscietta - softball and Khang Nguyen- boys track received the Golden Eagle.

Bolton Jersey: Athletic Director Pete Cesare, right, presented a Copiague Eagles jersey to Superintendent of Schools Dr. William R. Bolton to commemorate his support of the athletic program. As a special recognition to retiring Super­intendent of Schools Dr. William R. Bolton, Athletic Director Pete Cesare presented Dr. Bolton with a jersey to commemorate his sup­port

Pennington Award: Shown, left to right: boys la­crosse Assistant Coach Ken Berry, Jarred Pennington Memorial Award Recipient Dwayne Stewart, boys lacrosse Head Coach Jim Konen, Jarred Pennington lacrosse scholarship recipient Isaiah Stewart, Justin Stewart, and Linda Pennington. of the athletic program. "He has been and continues to be one of the biggest supporters of the athletic program," said Cesare. "I cannot remember a time that he has ever turned down a request to help our teams or our athletes." Stated Dr. Bolton, "It has been my honor to be a member of the Copiague staff for the past 12years. I will forever be an Eagle."

O'Connell Award: Shown, left to right: Joseph O'Connell, varsity baseball Head Coach Ken Rit­tenhouse, Daniel O'Connell Memorial Award Re­cipient Sean Johnston, Patrick O'Connell, Walter M. O'Connell, and varsity baseball Assistant Coach William Bennett. Golden Eagle: Shown, left to right , kneeling, are Khang Nguyen, Vanessa Destime, and Daniel Kurzyp and standing are Board of Education Presi­dent Brian J. Sales, Annelise Muscietta, Board of Education Second Vice President Michael Greb, Emily Hall, Board of Education Vice President Laura Gavey, and Jonli Falk.