YOUTH ON THE GO
Jayden Lewis and Ethan Cunha were named the Hunter-Tannersville Middle/ High School students of the month for October.
Lewis, an eighth-grader, represents the “Maroon Group” (grades 7-9). She is a member of the band and chorus. This fall, she is on the modified golf and the modified soccer teams. She will play basketball for the winter season. Last year, she received the Offensive Player of the Year award in junior varsity basketball. In addition, she will play modified softball in the spring.
Lewis received awards for her academics in math and was a Student of the Year nominee at the Middle School awards ceremony last June. She also received awards for the Highest Average in physical education and in health at her grade level at the end of the school year. She was on the honor roll all four quarters, as well.
Lewis wants to go to college to get a degree in marine biology. She fits many hobbies around her schooling and extracurricular activities, such as camping, hiking, fishing, hunting and traveling. In her spare time, she likes spending time with her friends and family. She also likes to volunteer her time. She has helped the Historical Society with weeding its gardens and has helped her grandfather’s sportsmen club pick up garbage on the side of the road. She also painted garbage cans for the town for an art project.
She is the daughter of Mark and Heidi Lewis of Haines Falls.
Cunha, an 11th-grader, represents the “Gold Group” (grades 10-12). He is a member of band and chorus, the Drama Club, SADD, GSA and the Spanish Club. He just finished co-directing the student-run play, “Complaint Department and Lemonade,” on Oct. 13 and 14. Cunha and the other director, the actors, stage and tech crews worked endlessly for over a month preparing for the production. He has also performed in “Legally Blonde Jr.,” “The Little Mermaid Jr.,” “And Then There Was One,” “Café Murder” and “Lion King Jr.” His passion is in acting and theatre.
Besides being Student of the Month for October, he was on the principal’s honor roll every quarter for the 201617 school year. He maintained a 90 to 94.99 percent grade point average for the entire year.
This summer, Cunha participated in a Broadway camp in Schenectady from July to August. He and the cast put on a performance of the musical “Pippin.” He plans on going to college for musical theatre.
He is the son of Isabel Cunha of Hunter.
••• Kyle A. Strack, a junior at Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, is seeking to help people affected by the hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, as well as the wildfires in Northern California.
A member of the school’s football team, Strack began to collect items such as diapers, wipes, baby food and formula, personal hygiene products, socks, underwear, bottled water and non-perishable food items. It did not stop there, however. Strack also decided that he wanted to keep this project going, and is promoting it so it takes off in other schools, talking to students at Franklin D. Roosevelt, Poughkeepsie and John Jay high schools.
Together with his mother, they came up with a name for the project, after Kyle’s initials (KAS): The Kids Keeping America Strong. Kyle and his mother are currently utilizing various avenues to transport the items he has collected. He has partnered with Officer Stephen Price of the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office. Price made arrangements through the sheriff’s office to transport the items. Officer Price also heads up Lourdes’ wrestling program.