Oceanside Chamber honors local role models

The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce held its annual installation dinner at Oceanside Jewish Center last Saturday, spotlighting its directors, welcoming a new president and honoring three standouts in the community in front of local officials and dozens of residents.

The 2016 Citizen of the Year, Lynn Bert, Outstanding Youth Award recipient Samantha Girschick and Business Person of the Year Tom Mauro posed for photos during the event’s cocktail hour. Girschick, an Oceanside High School senior, has been one of the most active students at the school for the last three-plus years, and has served as its president for the last two — first elected as a junior, which Principal Geraldine DeCarlo said was unprecedented.

DeCarlo added that Girschick would be missed after graduation in June because she has become a role model for many students. “She’s just a staple in our school,” DeCarlo said. “If you want to know something, you go to Sam, and the kids look up to her, which is phenomenal.

“…You learn that from your inner being, who you want to be, what you want to do, how you want to treat people,” DeCarlo continued, “and we just gave her the forum to shine.”

Girschick said she became interested in pursuing medicine in ninth grade when a child for whom she was babysitting fell off a bed. She called an ambulance and cared for the child until help arrived. “It just sparked something, where it’s like, ‘I need to do this for the rest of my life,’” she recalled.

She shadowed a heart doctor one summer, and volunteered in the emergency room at Mercy Hospital this past year. “I wouldn’t mind walking in there every day and that being my workplace,” Girschick said of the hospital. “It’s not as crazy as it seems on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ … but there’s just an air where everything is just on edge, and I just liked it.”

As school president, she formed a Future Physicians club last fall, which introduces students to career paths in the medical field.

She also befriended a non-verbal autistic boy named Tommy through the high school’s Best Buddies program. Girschick said that although Tommy doesn’t speak or show much emotion, she believes she is impacting his life in some way and expects to be best friends with him forever.

“I have read so many youth award recipients over the past years, and … this girl is brilliant,” said Maria Heller, the chamber’s former president. “In the next generation, the world will be better because of the people that came from Oceanside High School.”

Already established in the medical realm, Bert, a nurse since 1981 and a nurse practitioner since 2014, is South Nassau Communities’ Hospital’s nurse manager for pediatrics. “It’s a privilege to be part of somebody’s first breath or somebody’s last breath and supporting the families,” she said. “I love it.”

She has gone on medical missions abroad since 2014 — including to Haiti last month — where she cares for villagers in makeshift clinics. Bert also formed Nurses 2 B, a program that helps introduce high school students to the field of nursing.

Bert, who has been named a Nurse Hero by Long Island Business News and earned Town of Hempstead Pathfinder and Long Island Health Network Hero of Health Care awards, said she was overwhelmed to be honored by the chamber as Citizen of the Year. “I’m floored by the generosity,” she said. “I know how many good people there are in the community, and I can’t even believe it.”

Tom Mauro, the chamber Business Person of the Year, is the captain of the 85-member crew at Trader Joe’s. He has managed the business for the past two years, and said he has been thrilled to serve the residents.

The store donated roughly $850,000 in food to local pantries last year. Oceanside Community Service, St. Anthony’s Church and Long Island Harvest have helped distribute Trader Joe’s donations to those in need.

“[It’s] the greatest community in the world — the warmest,” Mauro said of Oceanside. “… When you come into Oceanside, you see that lighthouse. That’s what they are, they’re a lighthouse to all the communities.”

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, State Assembly members Brian Curran and Missy Miller, Town of Hempstead Supervisor Anthony Santino and Town Councilman Anthony D’Esposito all attended the event. New chamber President Dr. Adam Kritzberg and 14 directors — including new faces Tony Iovino, Monica Rubin and Theresa Camporeale — were installed before the citizen standouts were honored.

Kaminsky said that honoring a young leader shows the strength of Oceanside’s schools, and that highlighting others in the community for fulfilling civic responsibilities and being “all-around good people” made the night special.

“From where I sit, our businesses and our schools are the lifeblood of Oceanside,” Kaminsky said. “It’s a really great place, and this is the heart of the community, so it’s great to be a part of it.”