Dear Sacco Foundation Supporter,
2020 was somewhat of a normal year (in a year far from normal) for us at The William J. Sacco Critical Thinking Foundation. We were able to host our annual awards banquet at Liberatore’s Ristorante in Bel Air, the weekend before the pandemic really took off and things shut down.
More than 130 were in attendance for our 9th annual banquet, which honored 13 students and 10 educators from 11 different Harford County High Schools.
John Brownfield, from C. Milton Wright High School was named the Math Student of the Year.
Brownfield ranked second in his class of 357 at C. Milton Wright with a GPA of 4.625. He received perfect scores on both the SAT (1600) and ACT (36). Brownfield participated in the Maryland Math League and performed well enough to be included on the statewide leader board. He also participated in the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins Math Competitions. He now attends MIT for Mathematics.
The Math Educator of the Year, Cynthia Thompson, also came from C. Milton Wright High School.
Thompson teaches grades 9 – 12 at C. Milton Wright in Intro to Algebra, Geometry, Honors Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and AP Computer Science. She has gone beyond her duties of teaching mathematics by volunteering to take on teaching AP Computer Science as well as mentoring a student who is independently studying Differential Equations. Outside of the classroom, she has devoted much of her life to coaching soccer, basketball and lacrosse.
See below for a complete list of the 2020 winners.
STUDENTS
– Isaac Baccam (Patterson Mill High School)
– Mackenzie Bianchi (Harford Tech High School)
– John Brownfield (C. Milton Wright High School)
– Madison Buddenbohn (Edgewood High School)
– Casey Craig (Havre de Grace High School)
– Benjamin DeFord (Aberdeen High School)
– Jacob Huneke (North Harford High School)
– Jacob McElroy (Joppatowne High School)
– Salman Nasir (Science and Mathematics Academy)
– Heather Wheeler (Bel Air High School)
– Kathryn Yurechko (The John Carroll School)
EDUCATORS
– Susan Arena (Joppatowne High School)
– Joyce Boyd (Aberdeen High School)
– Amanda Fager (Patterson Mill High School)
– Kristin Harrell (North Harford High School)
– Ken Hutchinson (Havre de Grace High School)
– Erinn Izzo (Edgewood High School)
– Teresa Pleiss (The John Carroll School)
– Cynthia Thompson (C. Milton Wright High School)
– Jessica Wieber (Bel Air High School)
COMMUNITY AWARD
– Gianna Marzen (C. Milton Wright High School)
MIKE FRANKLIN COMPUTING AWARDS
– Student: Ethan Swain (Havre de Grace High School)
– Educator: Timothy Hitchcock (Havre de Grace High School)
Since 2004, we have now given more than $100,000 in scholarships and prize money to some of the top mathematics students and educators that Harford County, MD has to offer.
As we move on to 2021, things will look a bit different. The Sacco Foundation Board of Directors recently made the decision to hold our 10th Annual Awards Ceremony virtually. The students and educators that will ultimately be honored this coming year have been through quite a lot and are just as deserving as past honorees have been. We plan to do our best and make sure they understand that as the nomination process moves along.
More information on the 2021 William J. Sacco Foundation Awards Ceremony will be made available soon.
As always, we would like to thank you for your continued support of The William J. Sacco Critical Thinking Foundation. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to the foundation, please visit https://www.saccofoundation.org/contribute/ to learn more. All money donated will go towards the many scholarships given to award winners at our annual banquet.
From all of us at The William J. Sacco Critical Thinking Foundation, we wish you a happy and healthy 2021!
Harrison Swartz
Director of Communications and Events