MOUNT CARMEL TOWNSHIP - The Mount Carmel Area Board of Education recently announced its Merit Award winners for February.
Austin Garancosky
At the elementary school level, is third-grade student Austin Garancosky, a son of Frank Garancosky and Barbara Weikel, of Mount Carmel, who was honored with the award.
Garancosky was nominated by Donna Veach, elementary school principal. His teacher, Rita Boyer, said Garancosky is a straight-A student and is "conscientious, focused and dependable. He enjoys helping others and is a great role model for peers."
Garancosky was the overall winner for "most questions answered correctly," answering correctly more than 46,391 questions in a statewide, weeklong online math contest in which his class participated.
Garancosky received a certificate of recognition, and his class received a mathematics software package worth $750.
Outside of school, Garancosky enjoys playing football, baseball and video games. He also likes to read in his spare time.
Tommy Hynoski
At the high school level, senior Tommy Hynoski, a son of Thomas and MaryAnna Hynoski, of Centralia, received the merit award.
He is a four-year letterman for the Red Tornadoes football team and was a captain this year. He has competed in track and field for four years, serves as the Tech Ed Club vice-president and has been a member of Future Teachers of America for three years. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with friends, playing sports, hunting, helping with Special Olympics and volunteering at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.
Hynoski was nominated for this award by tech education teacher Keith Fourspring who said Tommy is "a hard worker, a positive role model and strives to do the best he can. He always goes above and beyond the normal parameters of a project to achieve a goal he has set for himself." After high school, Hynoski plans on attending a four-year college to become a nurse.