When the designated keynote speaker had to cancel last week, Pulley Center administrators changed gears. They called Tom Kelly and asked if he was available to be the keynote speaker for the Pulley Center Transition Ceremony.
As the former Employment & Transition Representative (ETR), many of the students remembered him. Clement Castellano, the current ETR, said that they didn’t inform the students about the switch.
“It was a thrill for staff and students to have Tom Kelly speak at our ceremony. I can honestly say, he is one of the few people in the world who I have never heard anyone say anything bad about. He is a prince and when we asked him to speak at the last minute, true to form, he came to our rescue,” Castellano said.
Diane Norris, assistant principal, welcomed the guests and several of the students spoke at the ceremony, including Manu Chopra, Sleimen Frangie, Dina Wassef and Jennifer Braun.
Clem Castellano presented the Earl L. Pulley Community Service Award to Louise Durohom, therapeutic recreation specialist and volunteer coordinator for Mount Vernon Adult Day Health Care. Diane Norris, assistant principal, and Shirley Pulley presented the Earl L. Pulley Achievement Award to Kabeh Lavala. Second runner up was Robert Poole; first runner up was Alonzo Sullivan.
Richard Cooper, lead mechanic for Aerolink, received the BAC Employer Recognition Award from Peter Popeck, Business Advisory Council (BAC); Gary Willey was unable to attend. Castellano said that this was the first year that they did not tell the winners of the BAC award that they won.
“We wanted it to be a surprise — and it was. Their boss was very helpful in making this happen. Gary was unable to attend because he was caring for his wife who recently had a stroke. Also, traditionally, that award is only given to one person, but Gary and Richard work together and they have worked so hard with one particular student that we felt they were both deserving of the award,” Castellano said.
Castellano said that this was a larger turnout than other years and that most of the students are employed or are connected with services that employ the disabled.