Read about previous recipients of the Nicole Marie Spink Driver Safety Scholarship.
Previous Recipients
Alicia Green, Sandy Creek School District - 2009
Alicia Green, a resident of Pulaski, was recently presented with the Nicole Marie Spink Driver Safety Scholarship. Green is a junior at Sandy Creek High School. Presenting the scholarship was Laura Yard and Sandy Creek High School Principal Maureen Shiel. The scholarship was established to honor the memory of Yard’s daughter, Nicole, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident in April 2005. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide an Oswego County junior or senior with a complete course in driver education safety to learn safe driving skills. This award will cover the cost of Green’s 5-hour pre-licensing course, which is mandated by New York State before registering to take the driver’s license road test. Participants in the pre-licensing program must hold a New York State Motor Vehicle Department’s learner permit.
Presenting the Nicole Marie Spink Driver Safety Scholarship are (left to right): Sandy Creek High School Principal Maureen Shiel, Alicia Green and Laura Yard, mother of Nicole Spink for whom the scholarship is named.
Read the complete article about Alicia and the scholarship on OswegoCountyToday.com.
Esperanza Morgan-Barrot, Fulton City School District - 2006
In April of 2005, Laura Yard received the news that no parent wants to hear. Her only daughter, 19-year-old Nicole Spink, had been killed in a one-car accident. State police investigations indicated that wet roads and unsafe speed were factors in the crash. Nicole had never taken driver’s education. “My daughter was not a good driver. She was so busy and involved in different activities between work and friends that she thought she didn’t have time for driver’s ed,” said Yard. She was so busy “she was trying to be in two places at the same time” when the accident occurred that evening.
Yard established the Nicole Marie Spink Driver Safety Scholarship in 2005 to honor the memory of her daughter. This year Yard and her husband, Jim, were able to award three scholarships in Nicole’s name, to students in programs throughout the county. To be considered for the scholarship, students were asked to submit a completed application, a letter of recommendation from their guidance counselor and an essay detailing why they would like to receive the award.
Esperanza Morgan-Barrot, an 18-year-old entering her senior year at G. Ray Bodley High School in Fulton had not had many opportunities to learn to drive before taking driver’s education. “I want to know that I am as good a driver as I can be and driver’s ed will help me do that,” she said in her essay for the scholarship. Yard chose Morgan-Barrot as one of the recipients of the scholarship, along with Shane Gabriel, 16, from Phoenix, who attended the BOCES driver’s ed program in Central Square. A third scholarship will be awarded during the school year.
After presenting the scholarship to Morgan-Barrot, Yard spoke to the students in the Fulton program about her daughter, Nicole. As she passed around a photo of Nicole she told the students that this course is the “best choice you can possibly make in your life.” She further encouraged the students to “be responsible and be safe.”
Oswego County BOCES has one of the largest driver education programs in the area, with more than 300 students in the summer program. The course runs for six weeks and consists of 24 hours of road experience and 24 hours of instruction in the classroom. During the coming school year, BOCES will also operate driver’s education programs in several sites. For information about the program, contact Oswego County BOCES at 963-4313.
If you would like to support the Nicole Marie Spink Driver Safety Scholarship fund, contributions may be sent to Oswego County BOCES, c/o Kelly Wood, treasurer, 179 County route 64, Mexico, New York 13114.
Laura Yard, left, presents the Nicole Marie Spink Driver Safety Scholarship certificate to Esperanza Morgan-Barrot. Also pictured is driving instructor Brian Dodge.
Shane Gabriele, Phoenix CSD - 2006
It is Laura Yard’s hope that another family never experiences a loss similar to her own, the death of a child in an automobile accident. So motivated and wishing to honor the memory of her late daughter, she started a fund to award annual scholarships to Oswego County students for a “complete course in driver education and safety.” In the inaugural year of the award, Laura Yard recently presented one of two 2006 Nicole Marie Spink Driver Safety Scholarship certificates to 16-year-old Shane Gabriele of Phoenix. The other scholarship winner is Esperanza Morgan-Barrot of Fulton.
Students applying for a scholarship were required to submit an essay on the reason why they felt it was important to attend driver education classes, along with a letter of recommendation from their guidance councilor. A five-person selection committee chose the winning essays.
In his essay, Shane noted that he had played on the Phoenix High School Varsity Basketball team with the late Joseph Bregg III, 16, of Phoenix. He recounted how the death of Bregg in a December 2005 automobile accident had affected the students and parents in his community. In concluding his essay, Shane stated, “If we could provide Driver’s Education to all students, we would see a decline in accidents and deaths among our peers.”
Shane was one of approximately 300 students who recently completed Oswego County BOCES’ summer driver education program. One of the largest of its kind in the region, it featured a six-week, 48-hour course, with 24 hours of on-road experience and 24 hours of classroom instruction. Guest speakers included police, fire rescue and Stop DWI personnel, and insurance agents. The program operated at sites in Central Square, Fulton, Mexico, Oswego, and Pulaski. During the upcoming school year, BOCES will operate driver education programs in Fulton, Hannibal, Mexico, and Oswego.
Laura Yard, right, presents a 2006 Nicole Marie Spink Driver Safety Scholarship certificate to 16-year-old Shane Gabriele of Phoenix.