Huntington Alumni News
Scott McGilvray is headed into the Washington College Athletic Hall of Fame. The 1995 Huntington High School graduate will be inducted for his remarkable career on the college lacrosse field. The formal induction ceremony will be held Saturday evening, October 13.
McGilvray played defense for Washington College, which is located in Chestertown, Maryland. He was a star for the Blue Devils throughout high school, earning three varsity letters with the Huntington lacrosse team. The 1995 alum resides in Bellevue, Washington.
Huntington's Class of 1995 picked up its diplomas at the high school's 134th annual commencement exercises on Sunday, June 25 at 1:30 p.m. The mistress of ceremonies that day was Caitlin Maier, whose mother, Nora, was a member of the Huntington School Board. Valedictorian Jay Bikoff and salutatorian Mason Reiner were among those addressing a crowd numbering in the thousands.
The Class of 1995 was incredibly talented and its members today occupy positions in a variety of career fields ranging from finance, commerce, law, medicine and academia to college athletics and book publishing.
The class was also filled with talented athletes, including twin sisters Jennifer and Margaret Tietjen, who were All-American soccer players for the Blue Devils and who today coach on the NCAA Division I level and James Paci, a Huntington quarterback who played football at Yale University and is now an orthopedic surgeon and assistant professor at Stony Brook University Hospital. Mr. Bikoff completed a Ph.D. at Harvard University and is now doing post-doctoral research at Columbia University.
LaForgia at Diane von Furstenberg
Kristine LaForgia, a member of Huntington High School's Class of 2004, is employed as an office manager at fashion giant Diane von Furstenberg in New York. She earned a BS degree at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland in mass communications with a triple track in advertising, public relations and journalism.
Ms. LaForgia has been studying graphic design at the Parsons School of Design in Manhattan. She has also been a creative services intern at fashion and apparel trendsetter Michael Kors and David Yurman, a luxury goods and jewelry company. She was a sales assistant intern at Katz Media Group.
Ms. LaForgia is also currently the sponsorship coordinator of the 4Love Project, an organization co-founded by Huntington grads Sean Pawelec and Jana Piccola that raises awareness of the scourge of pediatric cancer and makes contributions to research efforts dedicated to finding a cure for the disease.
Ms. Piccola, a member of Huntington's Class of 2004, passed away on Oct. 31, 2008 from acute myeloid leukemia. She was 21 years old and had initially been diagnosed with cancer in the spring of her junior year of high school. After lengthy treatments pushed the disease into remission, she lived a joy-filled life for many years, before becoming ill again as a college senior. Quinnipiac University later awarded Ms. Piccola a bachelor's degree posthumously.
Huntington's Class of 2004 graduated on Friday, June 25 at 5:30 p.m. The ceremony was moved indoors to the auditorium because of inclement weather. The class was led by valedictorian Chelsea Kocis and salutatorian Sarah McGullam. Erin Doyle was the GO president. Megan O'Leary was president of the senior class. Diplomas were presented by members of the Huntington School Board. John J. Finello was the superintendent of schools.
Green Owns San Fran PR Company
Kristen Green, a member of Huntington High School's Class of 1992, owns a public relations company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ms. Green was previously employed as assistant director of publicity at Harper Collins Publishers, as publicity manager at Penguin Group USA and as an assistant account executive at Nike Communications.
The Huntington alum earned a BA degree in communications and public relations with a minor in psychology at Boston University in 1996.
Huntington's Class of 1992 graduated during the school's 131st annual commencement exercises on Sunday, June 28 at 1:30 p.m. The class was led by valedictorian Brett Prior and salutatorian Karin Giordano. Benjamin Gruder served as the GO president and Christian Meyer was president of the senior class. Senior Eric Jensen was a National Merit Scholarship finalist.
Diplomas were presented during the commencement by School Board President Frederic Gruder and Vice-President Nora Mair. Dr. Richard Stock was superintendent of schools.