Durkin has already been accepted to Penn State and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is also applying to the University of Delaware and the University of Connecticut. He plans to study kinesiology in the hope of going into physical therapy or sports medicine, professions that he was inspired to pursue by his experiences recovering from multiple athletic injuries.

An ‘awesome’ achievement

            Gerard Owenburg, Kennedy’s assistant principal in charge of athletics, said the state scholar-athlete program is important because “it gets people talking about school being first.”

            Having all 28 of Bellmore-Merrick’s fall teams designated scholar-athlete squads “clearly demonstrates our students’ ongoing commitment to not only athletic achievement, but also to academic excellence,” said Central District Superintendent John DeTommaso, who played lacrosse at Farmingdale High School and Johns Hopkins. “These student-athletes embody everything Bellmore-Merrick represents.”

            And Saul Lerner, Central’s athletics director, who played basketball professionally in Israel, said the achievement is “awesome. It shows what kind of community we live and work in. We define the term student-athlete, as we’re competing on both the highest levels in the classroom and on the field. Students, parents, teachers and coaches should all be very proud of this accomplishment.”

For a full list of Bellmore-Merrick Scholar-Athlete Teams and their grade averages, check our print edition on Thursday.