By Lauren Young

Staff Writer

The sixth annual Women of Distinction Awards held a heartfelt ceremony last Saturday in Fayetteville to honor the daily dedications of local Central New York women who inspire on and off the clock.

Sponsored by Assemblyman Al Stirpe, all eight winners were recognized at the awards ceremony held at 11 a.m. at the Fayetteville Village Hall.

“We try to do something special for Women’s History Month,” said Assemblyman Stirpe. “We think it’s important. We have a lot of great women in our district.”

“Every year is different,” he said. “Some years we get 90 percent of the nominations for healthcare or for education, sometimes it’s mostly volunteerism, but this year again was a very different year.”

For one, this was the first year the ceremony has given special recognition to “everyday heroes,” which included Fayetteville-Manlius district crosswalk guards: Beverly Boland, Carol Dwyer and Terry Houghton.

“Beverly Boland, Carol Dwyer and Terry Houghton dedicate themselves to the safety of students and staff of the Fayetteville-Manlius school district,” said Stirpe. “These women are out in the road every school day, regardless of how cold, rainy or snowy it is, stopping traffic and doing their jobs, often with little recognition.”

Following that recognition, this year’s winner for volunteerism was Michela Hugo, a former elementary school teacher described as a “tireless advocate for families in need throughout our region,” who founded the CNY Diaper Bank in 2016 to fundraise and collect diapers for families in need.

With half of Syracuse children under the age of five living below the poverty line, Hugo and her organization fight to ensure that diapers aren’t a sacrifice families have to make. Partnering with 15 agencies, including the Rescue Mission, ACR Health and the Salvation Army, more than 30,000 diapers each month are donated to Central New York families.

“I joined the CNY Diaper Bank with Michela in the fall, and I am just in awe of Michela, because she does work tirelessly and is one of a kind,” said Anne Krouse who nominated Hugo for the award. “Michela has really just brought it all together,” she said, adding that their new goal is to donate 50,000 diapers a month.

“Thank you for this award, I always like to use this opportunity to spread the word about what we’re doing,” said Hugo. “We started with six agencies back in 2016, and work with 18 now,” totaling out to over 400,000 diapers donated.

Their third annual Diaper Driver will be held in May, and their goal is to donate 100,000 diapers.

This year’s winner in the science category was Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, a distinguished teaching professor at SUNY ESF, a plant ecologist, writer and mother. Of both Anishinaabe and European descent, an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and the founding director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, Kimmerer has done pioneering work to combine restoration ecology with indigenous knowledge.

“She strives to connect indigenous philosophy and wisdom with cutting-edge scientific tools to come up with environmental conservation and awareness,” said Stirpe.

In 2005, Kimmerer was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for Nature Writing, and was awarded the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award for her latest book, “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.” She is also the co-founder and past president of the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Section of the Ecological Society of America.

“I have known Robin since the day I was born,” joked Kimmerer’s daughter Larkin Podsiedlik, who nominated her mother for the award. “She has always been a woman of distinction. She’s not only an amazing scientist and distinguished teaching professor, but also a single mom who raised my sister and I in the Syracuse area,” she said.

“What a privilege it is to be a scientist,” said Kimmerer. “It’s the perfect profession for someone who wanted to be out in the woods playing with plants and shrubs, and didn’t want to have to grow up.”

The next winner was Cheryl Matt, board member, officer of Rotary International for over 20 years and soon-to-be their district governor in 2020, who won the community and civic affairs category.

As a rotary leader, Matt has organized pancake breakfasts and blood drives, and embraces the Rotary’s mission to fight illiteracy, poverty and disease.

She is also a founding member of the Central New York chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, an environmental group that promotes clean air, water and soil, and was a recipient of its Tobin Service Award.

“We live in a great community, and I was brought up in a way that you always give back, and I’m inspired to be here with fellow women who feel the same as I do,” said Matt.

This year there were two winners in the education category: Daniella Rausa and Karen Seamans.

Rausa, a music teacher at Roxboro Road Middle School, conducts the band, chorus and various musicals. Working within the North Syracuse Central School District since 1997, Rausa formed the Roxboro Road marching band in 2013 to help students better connect with the community.

“The next award winner focuses on creating new educational opportunities for all her students, regardless of their financial means,” said Stirpe. “She travels with the marching band to many competitions, in some cases, giving her students their first opportunity to compete and engage with the community.”

“We’ve already heard it takes a village to raise and educate a child, and it also takes that for a teacher,” said Rausa. “The kids are wonderful, and I love being an educator. I am so beyond honored.”

Karen Seamons, director of the Cicero-North Syracuse High School marching band was the second winner in the category.

Developing her passion for music as a student at the school, Seamons played on the Cicero-North Syracuse Northstars Marching Band. Since becoming their director, there are now more 130 members from grades seven through 12, and has led the band to back-to-back state championships in 2016 and 2017, and swept the competition at the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. Seamons is currently prepping the band to perform at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November.

Seamons additionally runs the Gillette Road Middle School Band and started a parade band and color guard group. Serving as the director of the Northstars Jr. Winter Guard, she has led them to a silver medal at the Mid-York ColorGuard Circuit Championships last April. She is also an avid dog-lover who spends her spare time fostering recuse dogs.

“She has spent countless hours as a dedicated director,” said Jennifer Broden, who said she has had the “honor” of knowing Karen since she started as a teacher. Her child, as well as her colleague Jodie Whitney’s child, have both had Seamons as a music teacher for several years. “We want to thank Karen for all her hard work and dedication,” she said.

“I’m completely honored,” said Seamons. As a member of the marching band in high school, Seamons said the experience made a “huge impact” on her life. “I’m so excited to be able to share that with our students now. I think it’s important to understand that beyond music, the kids that are in marching band, and the kids that are involved in concert band, and music programs, are learning life-long skills that I think are going to benefit them in the long run,” including things like accountability to one’s team, personal responsibility, hard work and the importance of setting goals.

“I hope that at some point, I see some of my students up here because my real goal, beyond winning trophies and competitions, to make them all people of distinction and contributing members to our community.”