David Skinner

The SUNY Fredonia Federal Credit Union announced five scholarship winners on May 22 at its 43rd Annual Meeting.

Through the very generous donations made in the memory of Frances Crino Granata, who passed away on Feb. 4, 2018, the Credit Union presented 3 scholarships in her honor. Granata was elected to the position of the first President of the Credit Union in 1974.

The Credit Union is pleased to announce the recipients of the Frances C. Granata scholarship are David Skinner, Timothy Skinner and Peyton Popard.

David Skinner is a Brocton Central School senior and son of Laurie and Allyn Skinner. David is third in his class with a GPA of 98.338. Following his hasty escape after graduation, David plans on attending SUNY Fredonia to major in science engineering, and minor in journalism. To some this combination may seem unusual, but David plans on either creating the future, or if calculus socks him a good one in the jaw, writing about the future with a thorough understanding of it in a magazine such as Popular Science, or Scientific American.

David is involved in many extracurriculars, including, but not limited to, varsity soccer and track and field, Rotary-Interact Club, Drama club and National Honor Society. He helped two previous summers in the Summer Meal Ministry at Hurlbut Church in Chautauqua Institution. He also had the incredibly opportunity to build character at Boys State, along with his twin brother Timothy, and was also involved in the American Legion Oratorical contest, where he learned that standing behind the podium isn’t quite for him. Regardless, he would like to thank SUNY Fredonia Federal Credit Union for granting him this scholarship to further his dreams of creating the future.

Timothy Skinner is the lucky son of Laurie and Allyn Skinner of Brocton. Timothy is Brocton Central School Class of 2018 Salutatorian with a GPA of 98.3. He has attended Brocton Central School for his whole school career, and even though he loves it, he’s ready to move on. Timothy has played (and was Captain) of the varsity track and soccer teams, played indoor soccer, and even dabbled in basketball and tennis. He has been involved in National Honor Society and Interact Club for four years and is the president of the Interact Club. Tim also has been a part of the Quest Backpacking club for five years, which he said he believes is the most amazing opportunity Chautauqua County has to offer. He attended the Rotary SLAPSHOT camp and also the American Legion Boy’s State program. Tim has had lead roles in school musicals since 5th grade, including the role of Charlie Brown this year. Tim also enjoys being a normal teen. In his downtime he plays video games, plays the ukulele or piano, or indulges in some curiosity (like juggling or solving Rubik’s cubes). After a once-in-a-lifetime speech at graduation, Tim will be attending Niagara University with a 4-year Army ROTC scholarship majoring in life sciences. He hopes that if he can perform well enough he will be able to go to medical school with this same scholarship, to one day become a surgeon. For a glimpse into his mind, Tim leaves us this quote, “Never let your mission get in the way of being kind.”

Peyton Popard, daughter of Kelly Olkowski and Michael Popard, will be graduating fourth in her class from Forestville High School at the end of June. At Forestville, Peyton is the treasurer of her senior class and Student Council, a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society. Throughout her high school career, she has volunteered many hours of her time to the people of her school and community, has been involved in numerous clubs, as well as received numerous academic awards for her exceptional academic standings.

Peyton will attend the University of Florida next fall to study biology. Her eventual goal is to pursue a career in radiology, dedicating herself to making a difference in the lives of others.

The nineteenth annual Paul T. Schonhart scholarship was awarded to Sydney Aldrich. This scholarship is in honor of Paul T. Schonhart. Schonhart was President of the Credit Union for fifteen years, which gives him the title of serving the longest term (1983-1998).

Sydney Aldrich, the daughter of Ann and Brian Aldrich, is an honor student in the top five percent of her class at Fredonia High School. She has completed several challenging courses over her high school career and is on track to receive an Advanced Regents Diploma with honors in math and science. Last year, she completed both Advanced Placement Statistics and Psychology. She is currently enrolled in four AP classes – US Government and Politics, Physics C, Calculus AB, and English Literature and Composition.

Throughout her High School career, Sydney has participated in several extracurriculars offered at Fredonia. She has been a member of Student Council, Model United Nations, Mock Trial, Santa’s Workshop, the Big Buddy Program and Bioinformatics Club, as well as being a cast member of the school musical every year. She was inducted into the Fredonia chapter of National Honor Society in November of 2016. This summer, she attended Empire Girls State, sponsored by the local American Legion Auxiliary Post #59.

Sydney attends Family Church Fredonia, located on the corner of Church and Temple Street, where she actively participates in youth group, is a member of the worship team, and volunteers in the nursery and child care programs.

Sydney will be attending Grove City College in the fall and hopes to pursue a degree in biology.

Rachel Proffitt, daughter of Laura and Todd Proffitt, will be graduating from Fredonia High School in June. Throughout her high school career, she has participated in many extracurriculars both in and out of school. She has been involved with the school musicals since 7th grade, most recently appearing as the crazy sea witch, Ursula, in the FHS production of The Little Mermaid. Rachel was a founding officer of the Tri-M Honor Society and the National Art Honor Society, currently serving as president for both. She has also been a part of the art club and orchestra since middle school and now serves as president. Before school hours she is a “String Buddies” student mentor to a fourth-grade student that plays viola, which is an instrument Rachel has been pursuing with a passion since she was a fourth grader.

Outside of school Rachel volunteers at Great Lake FX, an art/ hiking club, showing kids the importance of nature through art. She has also participated in the Quest Backpacking Club for 3 years, once as an 8th grader and twice as a student leader. For the past four summers she has partaken in the Playground Drama Camp. Her most famous roles during camp were being an apple throwing tree in The Wizard of Oz and Ariel in The Little Mermaid.

Rachel will be attending SUNY Fredonia as a Music Education major specializing in voice. She one day hopes to lead a classroom of her own and will attempt to be an amazing teacher like the ones she has had at FHS.

David Skinner

Timothy Skinner

Peyton Popard

Sydney Aldrich

Rachel Proffitt