This year’s Sachem Hall of Honor induction class was recognized on May 18, 2024, at Sachem High School North:
- Denise Comparetti Brown, Class of 1980: Senior Science Manager of Mission Engineering & Analysis at Naval Undersea Warfare Center
- Mary Hugelmeyer: Sachem’s first female Board of Education President
- Dr. Angela Kokkosis, Class of 2001: MD & Associate Professor of Vascular Surgery at Stony Brook University Medical Center
- Kerin Kolonoskie, Class of 1992: Creative Director of Washington Nationals
- Albert Martin, Class of 1967: U.S. Marine Killed in Action in Vietnam
- Joe Maruzzo, Class of 1975: Veteran actor and playwright
- Michael Murphy, Class of 1990: President of Commercial Real Estate at Douglas Elliman
- Jo Napolitano, Class of 1994: Award-winning journalist and author
- Paullina Simons, Class of 1981: Award-winning international best-selling author
- Hon. Steve Stern, Class of 1986: New York State Assemblyman
- Justin Vartanian, Class of 2002: Decorated NYPD Detective
Denise Comparetti Brown is the head of the Undersea Warfare Mission Engineering and Analysis Department based in Newport, Rhode Island. Denise leads the efforts toward assessing, informing, developing, influencing, and shaping U.S. Navy investment in undersea warfare (USW), conducting continuous strategic assessment through community engagement, awareness, and influence. Brown began her career in Newport in 1984 as a submarine combat system programmer, designing combat system display screens focused on end-user interoperability. In 2004, she served as the senior research engineer at Applied Research Lab at Pennsylvania State University. She has also served as branch head of Systems Analysis and Simulation Studies and Signal Processing in the Weapons, Vehicles, and Defensive Systems Department in Newport as well. Brown received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Union College in Schenectady, New York. She has more than 30 years of experience planning, developing, managing, and executing large-scale Underwater Warfare simulations and leading warfare analyses to assess emerging technologies, warfare systems, and missions. She was valedictorian of her graduating class and an active member of the band, math club, and National Honor Society at Sachem.
Mary Hugelmeyer once said, “I can’t imagine life without being involved with schools.”
She was born in New York City in 1905, she was the daughter of George and Mary Farnum. As a child, she used to come out to the family’s summer house in Lake Ronkonkoma. Mrs. Hugelmeyer graduated from Jamaica Training School, where she received her training as a teacher, and in 1950 she received her master’s degree from Hofstra University. Mrs. Hugelmeyer began her teaching career in 1924 at Public School 139 in Rego Park. In 1934 she and her husband, Frank, moved to Lake Ronkonkoma. They became active in the community; participating in chorus and acting groups, but in 1940, when Mrs. Hugelmeyer was on maternity leave from the New York City school system, she found herself becoming more and more involved in the community, especially as it pertained to education. In 1940, the local Board of Education abolished the teaching of music, a subject which the trustees viewed as “frill.” That did not sit well with Mrs. Hugelmeyer. Although this decision annoyed many, unlike the rest, Mrs. Hugelmeyer decided to do something about it. She went to the then-principal Walter Dunham to see if he would let her teach for free, and of course, he said yes. As Mrs. Hugelmeyer was on maternity leave, she needed to find childcare for her four-year-old and infant while she taught at Gatelot Elementary School. Her childcare issues were solved with the help of the Parent-Teacher Association (P.T.A.). Mrs. Hugelmeyer formed the association after she convinced the women of her mother’s group “to stop baking cakes and playing cards” and to take a more active role in district affairs. As the first president of this group, Mrs. Hugelmeyer also pushed for the construction of a combination auditorium-gymnasium, one which was needed to hold large gatherings, such as assemblies and graduation, to conduct physical education classes when the weather was poor; and to free the school from its dependence on outside meeting halls, such as the firehouse and the Lake Ronkonkoma pavilions. Mrs. Hugelmeyer had a talk with the then superintendent, Walter Ormsby, and in September of 1940, the PTA petitioned the board to take steps towards building this facility. It was this meeting that gave birth to the idea of centralization. In 1951, a full-fledged Citizens Committee was formed for this idea. Both Mrs. Hugelmeyer and her husband were members of this committee that helped orchestrate the merging of the three local communities to form the Sachem Central School District.
Mrs. Hugelmeyer’s husband, Frank, became involved with the Sachem School District, serving on the board of education from 1955 until his death in 1969. Mrs. Hugelmeyer took over her husband’s term in 1970; she was only the second female to sit on the board of education. In 1975 she was elected president of the Sachem Board of Education and led the board as their top leader until 1981, yet remained a board member until 1985. During her term of office, she was particularly interested in and supportive of curriculum improvements and instructional program services for Sachem students. Mrs. Hugelmeyer had a reputation statewide for her leadership and efforts to secure more state school aid for Sachem and other area school districts, as well as her efforts to improve federal and state legislation to benefit students and schools. In addition, Mrs. Hugelmeyer was a member of the Brookhaven Town School Board Association, on the legislative committee of the New York State School Board Association, a past president of the Sachem Teachers Association, an executive board member of the Suffolk Symphony Orchestra, a past treasurer of the Suffolk Concert Band Association, and as a school board member, was honored by the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.
Mrs. Hugelmeyer enjoyed her volunteer work as president of the Central Suffolk Girl Scouts Council. One highlight of her time with the Girl Scouts was taking the senior girls to St. Charles Hospital every Saturday during the polio epidemic to comfort the sick.
Mrs. Hugelmeyer helped establish the Lake Ronkonkoma Free Library, it can be said that she kept that library going, because for 16 years she was the chairman and the only member of the membership committee. During that time, she raised enough money to keep the library open. That library is now known as the Sachem Public Library. During the 1950’s, Mrs. Hugelmeyer was also involved with the Lake Area Youth Property, Inc. which was an organization that tried to get recreational facilities for the young people of the area.
Along with her sister, Ann Farnum Curtis, Mrs. Hugelmeyer helped produce The Three Waves, a history of Lake Ronkonkoma, which was published in 1976. Mrs. Hugelmeyer was also one of the founders and valued members of the Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society. In 1981, the Chamber of Commerce of the Greater Ronkonkomas honored her as their Distinguished Citizen.
It would be remiss not to mention her love of gardening, especially her rose garden, and spending summers on her boat at Davis Park, FI. Mrs. Hugelmeyer’s pride and joy were always her 15 grandchildren, all of whom went through the Sachem School District.
During her time at Sachem, Dr. Angela Kokkosis was actively involved with the math team, played flute and piccolo in the band and symphony orchestra, and acted or played flute/piccolo in drama productions. During high school, it was her biology teacher Mrs. MacLellan who recognized Angela’s interest in the sciences and healthcare, and suggested that she seek a summer research opportunity at Stony Brook University. This mentorship was the impetus for a series of events that led to her obtaining a summer research position in the lab of Dr. Stella Tsirka, who then provided the guidance and tools to apply and be accepted into Stony Brook’s Scholars for Medicine Program (combined BS-MD degrees).
She later received her vascular surgery training at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, New York. Dr. Kokkosis was recruited back to Stony Brook upon completion of her training, and currently serves as Associate Professor of Surgery, Program Director of the Integrated Vascular Surgery Residency, Director of Carotid Interventions, Director of the Center for Vein Care, and Medical Director of the Vascular Lab, in the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. She has presented her clinical research in carotid disease, venous disease, and dialysis access at national meetings and published her work in peer-reviewed journals.
Currently she continues to pursue vascular research and participates in several clinical trials. Her areas of expertise include open and endovascular approaches to aneurysmal disease, carotid disease, peripheral arterial disease, dialysis access, thoracic outlet syndrome, and venous disease.
Kerin Kolonoskie, who joined the Washington Nationals in April 2015, is in her 10th season with the organization. In her current position, she oversees all aspects of the creative department, including brand development, marketing, advertising, photography, and uniform design. While at the Nationals, she played a pivotal role in crafting the narrative surrounding the team’s 2019 World Series win. Kerin also designed and launched the team’s first Nike City Connect uniform, celebrating DC’s iconic cherry blossoms.
Prior to joining the Nationals, Kerin spent 12 years with Internova Travel where she developed a great love of seeing the world. While there and traveling as much as she could, she centralized all creative and design across 10 unique travel brands and designed the company’s first business-to-consumer web platform. Her background also includes time spent at a record label, a tech company, and local Long Island newspapers, where she got her to start in design.
After graduating with honors from Sachem North, Kerin was focused on taking as many Advanced Placement and art classes as possible. Other activities included the Special Olympics, Big Brother/Big Sister, National Honor Society, Invictus Yearbook, Interact Service Club, and the Art Honor Society. She also received an honorary varsity letter for her videography work for the boy’s soccer team.
Kerin received a Presidential Scholarship to Alfred University, where she studied Psychology. Eventually, during her senior year, she switched to graphic design. Still an avid traveler, she always makes time to come back to Long Island to see her family and four nephews.
Albert Martin was in the United States Marine Corps when he died serving our great nation in the Vietnam War. Private First Class Martin, a machine gunner, died on February 20, 1968, in Thua Thien during a small arms fight. For his efforts, he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, Navy Presidential Unit Citation, Vietnam Service Medal, and a National Defense Service Medal. He is buried at Long Island National Cemetary in Farmingdale and his spirit will live on in this building and this community.
Joe Maruzzo has been in over 60 TV shows, Films and Theatre. He most notably played Joey Peeps on The Sopranos and his work has been honored by several organizations for best actor and best writing.
He is published in The Best American One Acts series by Applause Books and is a Lifetime member of The Actors Studio.
Joe played football for Sachem and also wrestled, and baseball and lacrosse through different years and seasons. He says sports saved his life. He said, quote, “It gave me a sense of belonging, respect and discipline.” For good measure, he was also class president and won most popular and best dressed.
He credits his mother, Ruffina, father, Jimmy, sister, Maria, and all the teachers and alumni with helping him through his formative years at Sachem.
Michael Murphy is the President of Douglas Elliman Real Estate’s Commercial Division, a leading full-service commercial brokerage firm.
At Sachem he was an integral part of the football team, earning offensive MVP honors as a captain in 1989. He was also the MVP of the North-South All-Star Game and rushed for a school-record 325 yards in a playoff game against Northport, which still stands.
In addition to his role overseeing the day-to-day operations of the multibillion-dollar Commercial office, Michael also sits on the Senior Executive Advisory Board at Elliman, one of the leading real estate firms in the world. In his innumerable roles Michael is responsible for strategic planning and the company’s day-to-day commercial operations that involve overseeing more than 100 offices spanning across the five boroughs and Long Island. He plays a pivotal role in the recruitment of top talent, business development, and integrating the company’s real estate brokerage activities with project management and facilities management. Michael has developed an exceptional referral base of loyal clients, completing more than a billion dollars in real estate transactions which include Hotels, Shopping centers, Triple Net opportunities, Land deals, several noteworthy office/ industrial leases, and retail developments with national chains.
Prior to joining Douglas Elliman, he was a managing principal at Global Commercial Realty. He also co-owned and operated the “Dublin” Group, a chain of successful restaurants/bars throughout the Long Island area including Dublin Down, Dublin Over, Dublin Deck, Planet Dublin, Murphy’s Law, Venue 56, as well as his newest venture in the hospitality industry Prato 850, a Gastro Pub, and hot spot in Commack.
Michael has an extensive academic background, receiving his MBA in International Business from Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland, where he was selected from an elite group of scholars to participate in a one-year accelerated program after first receiving his BA from CW Post Long Island University, where he played football on scholarship.
He lives in East Setauket with his wife Dana, also a Sachem alum, and their two children. He credits some very important people in his life with making an impact Sachem football coach Fred Fusaro has always been in his corner. Mike’s mom and dad were exceptional with their skills as parents and Bob Smith, his father-in-law, has been an invaluable mentor in his life. He is often a great influence and voice of reason!
Jo Napolitano spent nearly two decades reporting for The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Newsday before winning a Spencer Education Fellowship to Columbia University in 2016, meaning she was paid to attend the Graduate School of Journalism so she could write a long-form piece on young immigrants.
That story morphed into a book. The School I Deserve: Six Young Refugees and Their Fight for Equality in America, was published by Beacon Press in Spring 2021. A sought-after public speaker, Napolitano has lectured on immigrant education across the country, reminding educators not to overlook the potential of students who do not yet speak English.
Napolitano has reported on many topics throughout her award-winning career, including crime and science. But education remains her primary focus, and for good reason: It was the only means through which she would escape poverty.
Born in Bogota, Colombia, Napolitano was quickly placed in an orphanage where she nearly died of starvation before she was adopted by a blue-collar family from Long Island. She was raised by a single parent and is a first-generation college graduate having earned her bachelor’s degree from Medill at Northwestern University.
Napolitano lives in New York City and writes for The 74, an education-focused news site run by her former boss at The New York Times. The company has supported her work in immigration: The 74 flew her to Tijuana in 2022 to meet Ukrainian and Russian refugees crossing the border into San Diego — that story ran in The Guardian newspaper — and has given her more than a year to investigate educational discrimination against immigrant students across the country.
This most recent story, in which Napolitano tested public school enrollment policies in 550 high schools from New York to Hawaii, exposes unfair and sometimes unlawful practices that keep out vulnerable students who do not know their educational rights.
Napolitano is a two-time Education Writers Association Fellow and is also a grantee from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
While at Sachem, she was president of the Honors Society and Editor-in-Chief of The Harbinger. She used her Harbinger clips to get into Northwestern.
Napolitano credits her high school English teachers for recognizing and growing her writing talent and encouraging her to enter the field of journalism. She is thrilled by today’s honor and regularly credits Sachem for her success, mentioning the district by name in the many speeches she’s given.
Paullina Simons is an international best-selling author.
Born in the Soviet Union, she immigrated to the United States with her parents in the mid-seventies. She attended Stony Brook University, Essex University in Colchester England, and finally graduated from Kansas University with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. She was married at 22 and had her first child at 23. The first marriage did not last, but the child from that marriage is her pride and happiness evermore. She worked for five years in London as a financial journalist. When she returned to the U.S., she spent two years writing her first book, TULLY, which was published by St. Martin’s Press thirty years ago in 1994. Tully has been translated into twenty languages and published in two dozen countries.
Since Tully, Paullina has published 15 novels, a cookbook, a memoir, and two children’s books. Her fourth novel–a historical love story set in Russia called The Bronze Horseman—and its two sequels—Tatiana and Alexander and The Summer Garden— remain to this day her best-selling novels. They continue to sell in over three dozen countries and have been translated into 25 languages. In the U.S. The Bronze Horseman is in its 23rd printing. Her latest novel is LIGHT AT LAVELLE, a story of two families, one in Boston, and one in Ukraine, brought low by the Great Depression and Stalin’s Terror-Famine. Mainly it’s a story of “passion impossible” as the French say, between Finn, a Boston banker, and Isabelle, a Ukrainian farm woman.
Paullina lives on Long Island with her second husband and the last of her four children, but her lifelong dream is to make her home somewhere with palm trees and warm ocean water.
Steve Stern proudly serves as the New York State Assemblyman representing the 10th Assembly District. He was elected to the Assembly in 2018 and hit the ground running, passing an impressive six bills in his first six weeks, including laws to protect our precious groundwater, services for veterans, and measures to protect children’s health. Steve also secured unprecedented funding for our local schools and for law enforcement to support the fight against the deadly opioid epidemic and MS-13.
Assemblyman Stern believes that protecting public safety is his top priority and is the co-sponsor of New York’s “Red Flag Law” which helps keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them and allows immediate intervention when individuals demonstrate dangerous or violent behavior that poses a risk to public safety. Steve is working to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and our environment from the dangers of a rapidly changing climate. Stern co-sponsored and passed initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and incentivize renewable and sustainable energy; prohibit offshore drilling in our Long Island coastal waters; ban products that contain 1,4 dioxane that contaminate our sole-source aquifer; and secured vital funding for clean water infrastructure to protect our water quality.
Assemblyman Stern previously served six terms as Suffolk County Legislator and authored several legislative initiatives that have been the first in New York State and even in the nation. He introduced the Housing Our Homeless Heroes Act to end veteran homelessness and ensure that our veterans and their families always have a place to call home. Steve also created New York State’s first Silver Alert system, which assists in the safe return of our loved ones with Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disorders. It has since been expanded by the Suffolk County Police Department to include those with special needs, such as autism, developmental disabilities and severe mental illness.
Steve takes great pride in being a Sachem graduate. From the first day of elementary school and Jazz Ensemble at Merrimac to pizza with classmates at Mama Lombardi’s after school at Seneca Junior High and serving as Captain of the Flaming Arrows Varsity Swimming Team in high school, he knows well that his teachers, coaches, and advisors at Sachem were absolutely pivotal in laying the foundation for his future successes.
Assemblyman Stern went on to graduate from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and received his law degree from Western Michigan University TMC Law School, graduating cum laude. He is a Certified Elder Law Attorney and is admitted to practice law in New York and Florida. He was also elected a Fellow of The New York Bar Foundation. In addition, Steve has served as an adjunct professor at Touro School of Law, is a past trustee of the Long Island Multiple Sclerosis Society and a past vice president of the Suffolk Y JCC. Steve lives in Dix Hills with his wife Meredith and his two children. He has been featured in Newsday, The New York Times and Long Island Business News. Steve is also proud to have been chosen as Man of the Year in Government by the Times of Huntington.
Justin Vartanian started his career in July 2013 and just a few years later he worked his way into a plainclothes anti-crime unit. Throughout that time they were responsible for removing weapons and drugs off the street. In April 2019 he was involved in a shooting in Washington Heights where he had to chase an armed perpetrator which ended in a shootout. He was shot in the incident, as was the perpetrator.
After the incident, Justin was transferred to the NYPD’s Elite Technical Assistance and Response Unit. Throughout his career, he has received seven citations: four for Excellent in Police Duty, one for Meritorious Police Duty, and one honorable mention. His most prized medal is the NYPD Police Combat Cross, the department’s second-highest award.
He was also recognized by the New York State Senate with an award for bravery. He threw out the first pitch for a Mets-Yankees Subway Series game, was honored at a Brooklyn Nets game and was honored by Sachem East football with the Tradition of Excellence Award. He was named Cop of the year for the 34 precinct in 2019 and was promoted to detective in December 2020. He is also now working on the first NYPD drone team.
My life awards are his family, his amazing wife Meghan, and two beautiful children, Dylan (4) and Mackenzie (9 months).
His Sachem highlights include playing two years of varsity football for Coach Fusaro. He was also a coach at Sachem East from 2008 to 2013 where he coached with great coaches like Mark Wojciehowski, Tony Gambino, Phil Torregrosa, and James Dee.