Mediacom Communications held a reception Wednesday honoring recipients of its 2015 Mediacom Entrepreneur of Tomorrow Awards.
The awards were presented to graduating seniors from 14 different Orange County, N.Y. high schools and are based on their work ethic, academic performance and personal accomplishments. Each student received a $1,000 college scholarship and a special plaque commemorating their achievement.
At the ceremony, Mediacom chairman, CEO and founder Rocco Commisso gave a brief history of the company highlighting its entrepreneurial roots.
“The scholarships I received graduating from high school were fundamental to my pursuit of a college education,” Commisso said in a statement. “In creating the Mediacom Entrepreneur of Tomorrow Award, it was my goal not only to recognize Orange County’s next generation of entrepreneurs but also to assist them, in a small way, in covering their college tuition.”
Commisso has committed significant personal and corporate resources into funding educational opportunities for young people. Through Mediacom’s World Class Scholars Program, September 11th Memorial Scholarship Fund and Entrepreneur of Tomorrow Award, the company has provided college scholarships to more than 1,300 students nationwide since 2001. In 2014, Commisso established the Rocco B. Commisso American Dream Fund at Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx, NY, to ensure his high school alma mater can continue to recruit and educate deserving young men for generations to come.
The recipients of the 2015 Awards are: Stephen Cushing (John S. Burke Catholic High School), John Lunden (Valley Central High School), Brittany Milz (S.S. Seward Institute), Erin Proctor (James I. O’Neill High School), Jessica Peredes-Espinoza (Newburgh Free Academy), Elizabeth Davis (Cornwall High School), Courtney Baxter (Minisink Valley High School), Cierra DeVeaux (Middletown High School), Casey Krauss (Goshen Central High School), Lauren Lacroix (Washingtonville High School), Christy McCoy (Monroe-Woodbury High School), Kayla Shevlin (Port Jervis High School), Alexandria Whitmore (Warwick Valley High School), Adrian Fernandez (Mount Saint Michael Academy and current Rocco B. Commisso American Dream Scholar), Jazmin Savigne (Chester Academy), and Imanol Fernandez (Mount Saint Michael Academy and current Rocco B. Commisso American Dream Scholar).
