Community Corner

Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center Honors 2 'Upstanders'

Glen Cove organization recognizes those acting on behalf of other students as agents of change and tolerance.

Glen Cove-based Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center recently recognized two Long Island teens with its 2013 Friedlander Upstander Award.  

The award is given to recognition to people for their actions on behalf of other students as agents of change and tolerance. This year’s recipients are Katelyn Maher of Greenlawn and Caitlin Calio of Old Westbury.  

The two young women were honored at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center benefit and auction on May 1 at Carlyle on The Green in Bethpage.   According to the center, Katelyn Maher, an eighth grade student at Oldfield Middle School in Greenlawn, witnessed several instances of repeated harassment of special needs children who may not even have realized they were being targeted. Maher told others to leave those students alone and brought the incidents to adults’ attention so they would not be repeated.  

By seeing to it that that the special needs students received the care they needed, Maher demonstrated both empathy and courage, the center pointed out.   “Her bravery is accentuated by her decision to become the only female on her school football team and the only girl quarterback in the history of her school,” according to a press release.  

Also receiving the award that evening was Caitlin Calio, a junior at The Wheatley School in Old Westbury. Growing up with an older brother on the Autism spectrum, Calio was recognized for her work with students and younger children with special needs. After the Sandy Hook gunman was said to have had Asperger’s, Calio informed her classmates and teachers that those on the Autism spectrum are rarely violent. 

Calio's actions helped to educate the public, according to the organization. 


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