NORWOOD – Gracie LaLonde, a Criminal Justice student at the Seaway Career and Technical Education Center from Brasher Falls Central School, has been awarded the Thomas Olivo Leadership Award.

The New York State ACTEA Zone Scholarship is awarded to only two students in Zone 2 which includes 14 counties running from St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES all the way south through Central New York to Broome-Tioga BOCES in the Binghamton region.

ACTEA is the Association of Career and Technical Education Administrators. The award is named in honor of Thomas Olivo who was the NYS Education Department's Director of Vocational Education in 1966 when VICA (now known as Skills USA) was established. Dr. Olivo had the foresight to see the value of instituting a youth organization for students enrolled in secondary trade, industrial, technical and health occupations. He advocated developing leadership skills through participation in career-oriented student organizations, a goal that ACTEA continues to support today.

Gracie is a standout in the Criminal Justice program. She is a member of SkillsUSA, National Technical Honor Society where she serves as Secretary as well as a member of the Student Leader Program for Seaway Tech. She is known to be outgoing, positive, driven and passionate about all that she does. Students receiving this award are honored with a $500 scholarship from ACTEA.