CHAMBER UPDATE

The Chamber of Commerce of the Moriches is hosting the St. Patrick’s Day Dinner honoring 2024 grand marshal George Keller on March 8 at the Rock Hill Country Club. Tickets are $75 per person. There will be a buffet dinner, open bar, music by Chain Reaction Band, and Irish step dancers! Visit moricheschamber.org or call 631-878-0003 for tickets! The St. Patrick’s Day parade will be held on Sunday, Mar. 10 starting at 2 p.m. Main Street Center Moriches is honoring grand marshal George Keller.

Students of the Month

November: Nick Gentile

The Moriches Chamber of Commerce recently awarded Nicholas Gentile, a senior at Center Moriches High School, as the November Business Student of the Month.

Gentile is president of the school’s National Honor Society, Mathematics Honor Society, DECA, and the CEO of the Virtual Enterprises International Business Class. He’s also an inductee in all of the school’s other honor societies, and a member of the varsity tennis club. He represented the community as a national finalist in the MathCON competition in Chicago last spring, and was selected this past summer to participate in American Legion New York Boys’ State, a weeklong statewide leadership conference. 

This month, Gentile will be installed as cadet commander of the Civil Air Patrol, 9th Suffolk Cadet Squadron, U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, NER-NY 311. He has held many other important positions with the squadron, including flight commander, first sergeant, primary representative for the Cadet Advisory Council, Emergency Services NCO, cadet lobbyist for National Legislative Day and USAF National Youth Cyber Education CyberPatriot specialist.  He has also been officer in command for many civic and community volunteer activities, such as the Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk, 106th Rescue Wing Breakfast, and the Memorial 5K Run for Briggs, as well as a participant in many additional activities.  He is the Long Island Group Cadet NCO of the Year and a current nominee for the statewide honor of New York Wing Cadet NCO of the Year. 

An accomplished musician, Gentile has been selected as a participant in several scholastic county and state honors concert bands and jazz ensembles, in addition to serving as a section leader in the CMHS symphonic band, jazz band and pep band. These past two summers, he has donated his time as a trumpeter for military honors funeral ceremonies with the United States Armed Forces Honor Guard at Calverton National Cemetery, and has also volunteered to perform for VFW events, the Center Moriches Fire Department 9/11 memorial service, and the street-naming ceremony in memory of Air Force Maj. Andrea Brian O’Keefe. 

Gentile will be attending the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, S.C., Johnson College of Business at Cornell University in the fall. 

December: Andrew Foster

Andrew Foster is a senior at Center Moriches High School pursuing an International Baccalaureate Diploma.  Andrew is actively involved in many sports and extracurricular activities and is in the top 10 percent of his class.  Andrew is secretary of the senior class, president of DECA Club and a member of the National Honor Society, English Honor Society, Foreign Language Honor Society, Math Honor Society, Science Honor Society and Social Studies Honor Society.  

Andrew also plays varsity baseball and varsity soccer at Center Moriches High School, where he is captain of both teams, received all-league recognition for soccer in his senior year and was awarded the Scholar Athlete award by Section XI. Andrew has represented Center Moriches High School at several leadership and mental health programs, including the Section XI Using Our Voices Conference, Student Leaders for the Ambassadors of Compassion Conference and Gov. Hochul’s Youth Mental Health Invitational Conference.

In addition to his school-related commitments, Andrew volunteers with Moriches Bay Little League and Red Devils Youth Baseball organizations to work with young players during the winter months to help develop their baseball skills and works at 365 Athletics to help players with baseball fundamentals. In the summer months, Andrew works in the hospitality industry as a valet and employee transport at Dune Deck Beach Club.

Andrew intends to pursue a degree in finance when he starts college in the fall.

January: Julia Hromada

Julia Hromada is a senior at Center Moriches High School. Julia is actively involved in many sports and extracurricular activities. Julia is a member of DECA Club and a member of the National Honor Society, Foreign Language Honor Society, Math Honor Society, and Social Studies Honor Society.

Julia also plays Varsity Volleyball and Varsity Flag football at Center Moriches High School, where she has been captain three years for volleyball and two years for flag football. Her volleyball accolades include Rookie of the Year (9th Grade), All-Conference (10th and 11th grade) and All-County, All-County Tournament Team, AlI-State tournament team, All-State First Team, and Player of the Year during her senior year. She was also recognized by Newsday as Top 25 on Players on Long Island both Junior and Senior year as well as Newsday’s All-Long Island Second Team her senior year. For flag football, Julia received All-County her junior year, and was the Newsday Athlete of the week her junior year. She was also selected to participate in the first NFL Flag Football Quarterback Challenge.

Julia has represented Center Moriches High School at several leadership and mental health programs, including the Section XI Using Our Voices Conference, and selected to participate in the 1st Athletic Leadership Conference in Albany, N.Y. In addition to her school-related commitments, Julia has commitments outside of school. Those include volunteer work: libero tracking during the Center Moriches boys volleyball games, Clayton Huey field day, and events at IGHL in Manorville.

Julia intends to pursue a degree in graphic design when she starts college in fall.