Katherine Zhu
Josette Penzel
2009
BERKOWITZ SCHOLARS
Below PCT Treasurer Kevin Dugan presents the
Berkowitz and Rubin Scholarships
The Plainview-Old Bethpage Congress of Teachers was pleased to present the 2009 Myriam and Leonard Berkowitz Memorial Scholarships to Josette Penzel and Katherine Zhu. 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 Berkowitz's 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 based on outstanding academic accomplishment. Finalists are selected by the trustees of the Berkowitz Scholarship Fund after extensive interviews. This year, seven 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. Josette and Katherine, however, are two of the most outstanding students to ever come before the Trustees. Josette will be attending McGill University in Montreal. Katherine will continue her studies at Stony Brook.