A teenager and a tutor were recognized recently in Borough Hall for their boundless dedication to community service.
Prior to Community Board 6’s May meeting, Ericka Medina, an 11th grader at Benjamin Banneker H.S., was presented with a Youth Acknowledgement Award, and Steve Shooman, the coordinator of the Gowanus in Unity tutoring program, was honored with the Robert Acito Award.
Medina was nominated for the work she does with the Red Hook Initiative’s 100 Letters to My Father project, an initiative to draw attention to the importance of fatherhood.
She was the only teenager among the adult volunteers working on the project.
“Ericka not only attended every planning meeting and conference call, she offered significant insight and did not hesitate to speak out in a team of adults,” said Borough President Markowitz, who presented the awards.
She also created a MySpace page for the project, creating a platform for people throughout the city to share their letters to their fathers.
As a speaker at an event at Medgar Evers College, Medina took the stage with confidence, providing courage and inspiration for others to share their thoughts with the crowd, the borough president said.
“Throughout the project, Ericka was responsible and dedicated to the mission of providing a healing space for other young people who may have had issues left unresolved with their own fathers,” Markowitz said.
“I am very proud of being a youth achiever. It meant so much to me and others because they have so many unresolved problems,” Medina said to warm applause.
Shooman’s tutoring program connects volunteer tutors from the community with students from the Gowanus housing development. Roughly 30 students are currently enrolled.
Shooman tutors 15 students. “He never turns down a prospective student even if it means one more for him to tutor,” Markowitz said. “Steve is the coordinator of the program, a tutor, a mentor, a resource, an advocate, and a fund-raiser all to benefit kids in the Gowanus Houses and surrounding community.”
His award, named after the former district manager of Board 6, recognizes adults who volunteer to work with kids.
Shooman did not claim his plaque alone. Several of his students took to the front of large former courtroom, congratulating their mentor and presenting him with a small bouquet of flowers.
—Gary Buiso
