Five people who make a difference in their communities will be honored on campus Nov. 5 in the 14th Annual “Hometown Heroes” awards ceremony. From the man with a fatal disorder who refuses to let his condition temper his spirit, to a guidance counselor who opens her home to troubled high school students, the honorees' own actions show what it takes to lead a noble life.
A recognition celebration takes place on Monday, Nov. 5, at 4 p.m. in McKinnon Hall in the Moseley Center. This year’s honorees include:
Matt DeSimas (nominated by Kendra Cirillo):
The Fairhaven, Mass., resident struggles with Lafora Disease, a terminal genetic disorder that incapacitated the academically gifted student by the end of his senior year at a small Catholic high school. But DeSimas chooses not to surrender his life. He attended prom in a tuxedo, both parents at his side, though he never again returned to school and spent graduation day in the ICU of a Boston hospital. “Matt DeSimas deserves to be honored as a Hometown Hero because of his courage, faith and joy that he has shown throughout his short life,” Kendra Cirillo, who attended school with DeSimas, writes in her nomination essay. “His faith guides him to believe God has something better in store for him, and he joyously inspires everyone around him to find happiness in their own lives like he does.”
Ada Gustin (nominated by Lisa Carter):
Doctors diagnosed Gustin with late-stage breast cancer in 2001, which led the Katy, Texas, single mother to major surgeries and weekly chemotherapy treatments. Despite her chronic pain, Gustin makes time for family and friends, sharing with her community a “life gift” of passion and perseverance. She views her disease as a test of faith, one that requires her to find joy in simple activities, like working in her garden, visiting church or attending school functions with her children. “Her illness does not show in her face or her actions, nor does she allow it to slow her down,” Lisa Carter, who met Gustin in 2004, writes in her nomination essay. “It is incredibly rare to find someone who views and lives life the way she does, especially when experiencing the tremendous amount of physical hardship she faces each day.”
“Being someone’s ‘hero’ is more then I could have ever imagined in my life,” Gustin said of the award. “To know that I have touched someone in this way and have had been such a strong influence to them helps me to know I am succeeding in doing God’s work and his purpose in my life. The only thing we can ask for while we are here on earth is to make a difference.”
Elaine Malone (nominated by Lindsay Mass):
A longtime drama teacher for a private school in Georgia, Malone has inspired countless theater students during her career, at times in spite of personal tragedies like a fire that destroyed her home and the back-to-back diagnoses of cancer in both her husband and adult daughter. “I am in awe of her because she never once complained or asked for sympathy from anyone,” Lindsay Mass writes in a nomination essay of her former teacher from Atlanta. “She went on doing her job at school, never once taking a day off, and then she spent all her extra time by her husband’s side while he went through chemo treatments.” Even after their home was destroyed in a fire caused by lightning, Malone, who is set to retire in 2008, returned to work and directed two of the most successful shows in school history.
Linda Sheftel (nominated by Natalie Saragusa):
After her teenage son was killed in a hit-and-run during a trip to the beach, Linda Sheftel of Allentown, Pa., joined with the driver behind the wheel of the car and started traveling the East Coast to teach high school students the dangers of drunk driving. Sheftel turned her loss into a teaching tool, sharing with teens the thoughts that impaired her own mind when the phone call arrived that June 2005 night. “She endured a fate worse than death: burying her child,” Natalie Saragusa, a friend of Sheftel’s surviving daughter, writes in her nomination essay. “But that has not broken or even bent this woman. She is channeling her pain into a means of working toward the greater good of America’s youth.”
“This award validates what we are doing with the speeches, having some impact,” Sheftel said. “It validates me personally as a mom and validates my son, his life, and his memory. There are no guarantees in life. It is about loving and valuing your family with a passion, finding some meaning in a tragedy that makes no sense, learning how to forgive, and to continue living a different life.”
Karen Zimmerman (nominated by Christy Zimmerman):
Zimmerman, a high school guidance counselor, brought home one of her students nearly a decade ago when the teenager needed a place to stay because of his problems with drugs and alcohol. Over the next year, Zimmerman assumed the role of mother, offering the boy guidance and discipline where none existed. His drug use diminished and today he holds a job to support children of his own. Zimmerman, of Blacklick, Ohio, is now assisting a former student by providing her with a room as she pursues a college degree. “Not only has my mom motivated me to help on a small scale, but also to dedicate myself to others in my own career path,” Christy Zimmerman, Karen’s daughter, writes in the nomination essay. “I want to become an elementary school teacher because I want to touch as many lives as my mother has.”
“I don’t see myself as a hero so making sense of this was difficult,” Karen Zimmerman said of the award. “As parents, we live everyday hoping and praying that we have done all the right things for our kids. If I left this earth tomorrow, just knowing that I have shown what it means to truly ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ leaves me feeling fulfilled.”