CSGA Publications: 2014 Championship Annual | Page 74

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The Spring 2004 issue of The Connecticut Golfer included a human interest article about two 2003 Widdy Neale scholarship recipients, Chelsea Riccio and Brent Silano. Ten years later, Chelsea and Brent have excelled in their fields of interest. C HELSEA RICCIO had worked on the grounds crew at Manchester Country Club, was a four year honors student at East Hartford High School, was a student government representative for four years, and was captain, most valuable player, and allconference selection in volleyball. Her high school volunteer activities included working for Habitat for Humanity, teaching religious education, working in soup kitchens, coaching for Special Olympics, and tutoring elementary school children. In 2007 Chelsea graduated from Emmanuel College in Boston with a degree in History and Secondary Education. After teaching in the Boston area, she accepted a position with Education, Inc., a corporation headquartered in Plymouth, Massachusetts, that specializes in providing educational services to students who are confined in hospitals or other medical facilities, special schools, or various behavioral institutions. The instructional goal is to prep are students to transition back to their schools after long or short-term placements for various medical, emotional, or psychological reasons. In a relatively short time her responsibilities have grown from those of Teacher to Team Leader to Assistant Director, to now Deputy Director. Chelsea’s responsibilities now include communicating directly with senior staff at hospitals and school districts; training staff members in the training of teachers; working with the expansion team to launch new accounts across all four districts comprised of MA, NH, NY, NJ, DE, PA and SC; supervising services at hospital and behavioral centers across six states MA, NY, DE, NJ, PA, and SC; recruiting, hiring, training, managing and evaluating staff; forecasting and projecting weekly and monthly profit and loss reports; creating year-over-year operation plans including budgets, staffing, and account growth; and evaluating new accounts. RENT SILANO worked in the golf shop at Torrington Country Club. He was a high honors student at Torrington High School and a member of the National Honor Society. He was a church usher, a Little League School and present pictures Widdy coach, a leader in the high school’s Above: High Recipients Chelsea Riccio andof 2003Silano. Neale Scholarship Brent Distributive Education Clubs of America program, a volunteer in the 2004 NCAA regional tournament, the Torrington Christmas Village, and an qualified for the Division 2 National instructor in the local schools Drug and Championship in Orlando, and finished Alcohol Resistance Education program. 18th in the country. He has twice won the Brent was the 2-handicap captain of his club championship at Torrington Country high school golf team and top player in the Club. Naugatuck Valley Conference. Brent is currently a fully registered Brent earned a Bachelors in Senior Financial Associate at Webster Business Administration from the Investments, a division of Webster Bank, University of New Haven with honors in N.A. with operations in Litchfield, 2007 and received an MBA in 2008 from Torrington, Canton, and West Hartford. UNH with concentrations in finance He is a member of the Torrington Young and strategic leadership. At UNH Brent Professionals Organization. Brent is was the four-year captain of the golf team married and lives in Canton. He enjoys golf team winning team championships Bentley, his two-year old Siberian Husky. and individual medalist honors. He won B ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIPS On June 24, 2014, the Officers of the Scholarship Fund approved an endowment policy that provides the opportunity for donors to establish perpetual, named scholarships. An endowment may be established with an initial, tax deductible contribution of $10,000 with a five-year fund goal of $50,000. Within the framework of the Fund, donors may offer specific criteria for such awards. The first endowment program now in place is the “Marty,” a perpetual scholarship that recognizes and honors the career contributions of Martin J. “Marty” Moraghan as long-time CSGA rules and competitions director. Marty also served as President of the CSGA in 1977-78. 74 Connecticut State Golf Association 2014 www.csgalinks.org