2008 BERKOWITZ SCHOLARS NAMED
JANICE HAN CAROLINE SALMON
On June 11, 2008, the PCT presented the Myriam and Leonard Berkowitz Memorial Scholarships to Janice Han and Caroline Salmon. The award is named for two people who devoted most of their adult lives to education and service to children and their families. Myriam Berkowitz was for many years an elementary teacher in the Syosset schools, while her husband Leonard worked for forty-five years as a psychologist in Plainview-Old Bethpage. The Berkowitzs left a substantial portion of their estate to provide scholarships to high school seniors in the districts in which they spent their work lives. Ever good unionists, they provided that their scholarship fund be administered by the leaders of the Syosset and Plainview teacher unions and the executor of their will.
Candidates for Berkowitz Scholarships are recommended by the Kennedy High School Guidance Department. Finalists are selected by the trustees of the Berkowitz Scholarship Fund after extensive interviews. This year, eight candidates competed for two five thousand dollar ($5000) scholarships. Each year, the trustees are faced with the challenge of picking two young people from among the outstanding students of the class. All of the candidates this year were academically outstanding; all presented a wide range of extra-curricular activities. The trustees were struck, however, by the breadth of knowledge and interests that Janice and Caroline demonstrated. Of particular interest to the trustees was Janice's interest in languages and other cultures and Caroline's enthusiasm for music and the arts. Both young women are role models of the power and benefits of a liberal arts education.