Thirty of Long Island’s young professionals were honored this week at the Huntington Chamber of Commerce’s Tenth Annual Award Ceremony at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.
The atmosphere was filled with excitement and the honorees donned bright smiles, along with their finest attire.
Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci addressed the group, as did Jennifer Cassidy, who was this year’s recipient of the Scott Martella Alumni Award.
The honorees work in a wide range of professions, including education, law, animal rescue, the arts, fitness, apparel, entertainment, politics and not-for-profits. There is a fresh new energy that these young men and women bring to the work that they do, and that flows out into the community.
Honoree Rebecca Zunno, director of operations at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, said, “I’ve been working at the Cinema Arts Centre for four years now. I started as an assistant to the operations manager and then slowly worked my way up and became operations director. Now we are hosting over 370 special events per year, which I manage. I’m really proud to be here tonight because not only is it acknowledging myself, which to me is less important, but it’s acknowledging the cinema. It’s an enjoyable place to work and I’m very passionate about it.”
Honoree Christina Keller said “It’s such an honor. This is my last semester of college. As part of my internship class, I work four days a week at NBC for the Late Night with Seth Myers show. It’s been the most exciting time of my life.”
Michael Harry Plunkett, director/producer of Photo Plunkett Productions, shared, “I feel very happy and honored to be here. Years ago when I started my business, I decided to stay local and became more involved in the community. I wanted to give back. It’s really nice to have all of our honorees here having a good time and enjoying the recognition for the hard work that all of us have put in. It feels good. It makes me want to do more.”
Many received standing applause as they walked up to the stage to accept their awards, including John Lee Cronin, co-Founder of John’s Crazy Socks.