HATHORNE— Superintendent-Director Heidi Riccio, Ed.D. is pleased to share that Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School is actively seeking nominations for the 2020 Larkin Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Larkin Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes members of the Essex Tech community and its past iterations, including Essex Agricultural and Technical High School, North Shore Technical High School, and Peabody Vocational School, who have demonstrated a commitment to and achievement within the local vocational and/or agricultural industries.
Alumni, students, faculty, staff, and members of the broader Essex Tech community are welcome to nominate someone for the award by filling out an online form here. The deadline to nominate someone for the award is Friday, November 27.
The Larkin Lifetime Achievement Award is named after Lt. Catherine Larkin, an alumni of the Essex County Agricultural School homemaking program and World War II nurse who died in a plane crash in 1945. The Larkin Memorial Cottage, currently being rebuilt into a multi-use facility, including a historical museum, service kitchen, office space, an exhibit hall, a learning lab and function space, was originally built in 1950 and named after Larkin.
The first Larkin Lifetime Achievement Awards were given at last year’s Homecoming Gala, which raised approximately $68,000 to support the current Larkin Memorial Cottage building project. Last year’s recipients were Essex Aggie Alumni Bob Woods, owner of Wood Trucking, and Ted Dunjnaski, owner of Dunjnaski Dairy.
To learn more about last year’s awards, click here.
In order to fully fund the building project, Essex Tech needs to raise approximately $650,000 in additional donations and will be holding a remote Homecoming Gala this year on Friday, December 4th at 6:00 p.m.
Tickets to the Gala will be available for purchase online here for $25 per person. Complete dinners for the Gala will be prepared by the school’s Culinary Department and available for purchase for $25 per dinner. Dinners will be available for pick-up on Essex Tech’s campus at Smith Hall between 1-4 p.m. on the day of the event.
A virtual auction will also be held, featuring items created by students in Essex Tech’s technical programs.
Thus far, Essex Tech has received approximately $158,000 in donations to support the project, which is also being partially funded by a Cummings Foundation grant awarded in 2019 to support various student projects at the school. The foundation awarded the school approximately $100,000 in funds, divided over three years, to provide carpentry, masonry, electrical, plumbing, and heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) and refrigeration students with the opportunity to gain authentic work experiences through building projects on campus.
Students from various disciplines at the school are working on the Larkin Memorial Cottage building project, including students studying carpentry, masonry, electrical, plumbing, construction craft labor, and agriculture. The foundation of the new building is currently being completed.
To learn more about the Larkin Memorial Cottage project and/or to donate, click here.
