Pictured: Suzanne McCann (R) with incoming Executive Director Michele Roque (L)

By Nancy McKenna

June 28, 2023: On Wednesday, June 14, Destination: College (“DC”) held its annual gala to honor its volunteers, coaches, student athletes and Cooney Scholars at the Bronxville Field Club, which was festooned with flags from the colleges and universities where the 46 DC seniors will be matriculating. This year’s event was also a tribute to outgoing Executive Director Suzanne McCann who has been with the organization for nine years.

As Board Chair Nancy McKenna noted in welcoming guests “this is our special evening to celebrate and thank all whose generosity in terms of time, talent and financial contributions enable us to run our programs. Those programs ensure that our staff and volunteers are able to assist our 46 seniors with their college applications and financial aid forms. It also helps us ensure that our 140 students who currently attend 70 colleges and universities throughout the United States stay there”.

McKenna thanked the hardworking and impactful DC staff who helped 46 seniors with the college application and financial aid process. One third of these students were admitted to EOP or HEOP programs, which provide tremendous academic and financial support but require tremendous additional paperwork.

McKenna then introduced Michele Roque, a proud graduate of Mount Vernon High School with a BA from SUNY Binghamton and a Masters in Literature from Mercy College where she is currently an adjunct Professor of Literature as the incoming Executive Director, noting that DC is looking forward to the next chapter under Michele’s capable hands.

McCann, College Access Head Linda D’Arcy, Student Speaker Kaseem Miller, McKenna and Roque

DC then honored longtime volunteer Kathy Fino, who passed away unexpectedly this past December. McKenna explained that Kathy, who had been with DC for over 11 years, had been a mainstay of both the Boys Basketball and Summer Programs, where she was beloved by her students for her big heart and loving demeanor.

Kathy had a particularly close relationship with Demetre Roberts, whom she successfully tutored in two science regents’ exams. Kathy’s DC colleagues and many admirers contributed to an award in her honor which was presented to Demetre at the gala. Demetre, a standout point guard and team captain at Saint Thomas Aquinas College where he graduated in 2022, went on to receive an MBA this past May from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Demetre was also the captain of that basketball team where he was already known by many in the crowd that evening as “the starting point guard and ferocious #2 on the basketball court, whose tenacious and electrifying play led his team to the historic defeat of the number 1 ranked Purdue in the NCAA March Madness Tournament, the biggest upset in that tournament’s history.” Helping make this award to Demetre were Claudine Bazinet, Kathy’s daughter, a Bronxville resident, and her sister Marybeth Hegarty, who came from Florida for the occasion. 

Demetre Roberts Accepting the Kathy Fino Memorial Award

Mrs. McKenna went on to celebrate retiring Executive Director Suzanne McCann’s many accomplishments.  McKenna noted that when Suzanne first started, DC worked with a mere four teams at Mount Vernon High School. Today DC works with nine. Today, under Suzanne’s leadership, assistance with the college application and financial aid process are conducted in a dedicated college center -the Cooney College Center-located in the MVHS library, headed by Linda D’Arcy, DC’s Director of College Access, hired under Suzanne’s auspices.

DC has also hired Laura Amigone as its dedicated Director of College Success to oversee the progress of the 140 DC students currently in college. In 2014 DC helped 23 students with the college process; this year DC helped 46. While these numbers speak volumes about Suzanne’s leadership and impact on DC, they don’t begin to reveal all her intangibles. How she got DC through Covid. How she goes the distance for all students who cross her path.

McKenna then announced with great pride the creation of an annual $5,000 scholarship in Suzanne’s honor, fittingly named the “Suzanne McCann GO THE DISTANCE SCHOLARSHP AWARD”. Endowed by an anonymous donor, this scholarship will be made to one or more of DC’s most deserving students, whether graduating from high school or already in college or graduate school.

A final speaker was DC’s own Kaseem Miller, a standout member of MVHS’s baseball team, a graduate of Hartford College and business school, and now with a full-time job at PepsiCo as a Total Rewards Operation Analyst after having secured a DC internship with that company. Kaseem spoke movingly of the impact DC had in his life, urging the DC high school students in the room to stay the course academically, knowing that DC would always be in their corner.

The event ended with the presentation of the prestigious Jeff Cooney Memorial Scholarships to 22 DC student athletes.

Jeff Cooney Memorial Scholars Class of 2023