Thanksgiving Essays and Contributions

Dear Participant,

Thank you for your wonderful contribution to the Thanksgiving Day Creative Celebration. We received outstanding poems, essays, and artwork that exemplify the creativity of New York State’s young people.

The submissions received are remarkable in what they represent – showing gratitude and respect for family, friends, our troops fighting overseas, and many other important subjects and activities. I am humbled and honored to see such inspiring contributions in response to what is a deceptively difficult question: “What are you thankful for?”

On behalf of the New York State Senate, I would like to offer my wholehearted congratulations to all of the participants in this year’s Thanksgiving Day Creative Celebration. 

Sincerely,

Senator Lee M. Zeldin

Barton Elementary

• Isabelle Baginski
• Johnathan Castro
• Johnathan Castro
• Rosemarie Castro
• Kevynn Centeno Marquez
• Daniel Christensen
• Brayden Clements
• Evan Falvey
• Frank Gebbia
• Teresa Kearney
• Samantha Lankenau
• Lina Maldonado
• Lina Maldonado
• Christopher Marchell
• Danielle Marullo
• Madison Skye Mazzarella
• Abigail Mitchell
• Sean Owen
• Jonathan Quiles
• Julianna Tapler
• Nicholas Terry
• Anthony Torres
• Salvatore Volini

Brentwood East Middle School

• Brian Benitez
• Jason Cabrera
• Giselle Castaneda
• Marlon Castaneda
• Christina Castillo
• Keesha Charles
• Elizah Day
• Christine Duartes
• Kenneth Escobar
• Kathrine Ferrufino
• Robert Figuereo
• Dashne Flores
• Jeffrey Godoy
• Dayana Gonzalez
• Joanna Guerra
• Andy Guzman
• Sienna Guzman
• Evesha Harry
• Chermin Hernandez
• Kasandra Hernandez
• Mariana Hernandez
• Jonathon Hernandez
• Melissa Joya
• Gabriela Llerena
• Aylyn Luna
• Samuel Mckenzie
• Emely Mejia
• Jennifer Ochoa
• Melissa Paniagua
• Michael Pasquier
• Solanyi Paulino
• Cristian Pena
• John Perez
• Travis Perrier
• Nicole Pon
• Brianna Ramnarine
• Zachary Rampersad
• Gabriel Rios
• Gabriel Rios
• Brian Rivera
• Alexis Roman
• Juliana Schmalfuss
• Jose Simon
• David Torres
• Marvin Torres
• Yesica Vasquez
• Kaila Young
• Marya Zhunio

Brentwood North Middle School

• Wendy Aguilar
• Yama Akrani
• Jose Garcia

Cherry Ave Elementary School

• Kayla Carbonari
• Michael Cassidy
• Jack D'Andrea
• Emma Dean-Stahl
• Tara Donohue
• Luke Doucet
• Kimberly McCarthy
• Erin Parrott
• Morgan Peres
• Caitlyn Rielly
• danny Sullivan

John S. Hobart Elementary School

• Eniyah Abdulhamid
• Walter Crane
• Miss Estling's 1st grade class
• Ava Heaton
• Ava Heaton
• Nathaniel Hernandez
• Ronald Hurtado
• Elijah Khan
• Melanie Martinez
• Andrea Mendoza
• Robert Orsi
• Benjamin Reeve
• Arianna Zeldin
• Mikayla Zeldin

Medford Elementary School

• Sana Ahmed
• Nicholas Cristoforo
• Nicholas Cristoforo
• Kaylee Wimmer

Saxton Middle School

• Victoria Brinkman
• Kayla Martin
• Justin Zhou

Sylvan Avenue Elementary

• Shannon Alden
• Robert Amato
• Charles Aurandt
• Nicholas Ayerle
• Sagabir Bandesha
• Erick Benavides
• Angelina Bevilaqua
• Devon Blue
• Devon Blue
• Matthew Bochicchio
• Ansley Brogan
• Ava Brogan
• Michael Cancellieri
• Ava Capobianco
• Marissa Carney
• Taegan Christopher
• Nolan Christopher
• Benjamin Colombo
• Jonluca Cortese
• Josephine Cristiano
• Alyna Dolan
• Liam Downey
• Julia Drago
• Ryan Duffy
• Hannah Dunton
• Emma Durr
• Gianna Echevarria
• Carly Farrell
• Ryan Foley
• Grace Ann Foley
• Ashley Friscia
• Alexander Gaglio
• Mary Gallo
• Dylan Garcia
• LilyClaire Garcia
• Sophia Gianakas
• Zachary Giglio
• Aidan Granville
• Victoria Huggins
• Madeline Jensen
• Dillon Jones
• Christofer Karl
• Lauren Kelly
• Nicholas Kenna
• Laurie Kern
• James Kiley
• Kristin Kloss
• Jeremiah Lee
• Kimberly Logan
• Mackenzie Maurer
• Robert Maurer
• Landon McCarthy
• Danielle Messina
• Lily Moller
• Shaun Murphy
• Omer Murtezaoglu
• Nicholas Neumeyer
• Ashley Oelcher
• Dominic Paciulli
• Kiara Pearsall
• Jennifer Prescott
• Olivia Rakowski
• Melissa Redlo
• Hayden Reese
• Isabelle Reyer
• Dearius Scales
• Thomas Seifert
• Christopher Sekela
• Emaan Shah
• Ava Soricelli
• Tatiana Soto
• Taylor Space
• Jorja Stadier
• Jillian Storminger
• Shannon Swezey
• Angelina Thompson
• Cynthia Torre
• Joshua Trent
• Christopher Van Dood
• Miller Varley
• Kayla Vazquez
• Hannah Wilans
• Emily Wolfe
• Megan Young

Tangier Smith Elementary

• Tyler Alban
• Tyler Alban
• Wilber Izquierdo Lopez
• Alexa Panettieri

Tremont Elemantry

• Ignazio Digilio

William Floyd Elementary School

• Amir Abdualiev
• Victoria Cordova-Morote
• Arda Cufadar
• Krista Cusimano
• Jaiden DeTorre
• Jared Diaz
• Ryan DiGiacomo
• Alphonso Lebron
• Fred Mahnken
• Morgan Molinary
• Jason Pannhurst
• Natalie Sandoval
• Kenneth Schneider
• Brandon Spezzano