Edward Astorino, Melissa Lucido, and Clare Mc Clarnon Steward were inducted into the Alumni Hall of Achievement on Saturday, May 7, 2016.
Three new members were inducted into the Alumni Hall of Achievement on Saturday, May 7, 2016, during the Annual Alumni Reunion. Melissa Lucido, ’95, Edward Astorino, ’98, and Clare McClarnon Steward, ’99, were honored for Excellence, Leadership and Service after a cocktail reception on the Granito Center patio. All of the honorees were active in the Aquin Players, Dominican College’s theater group, when they were students at the College.
Melissa Lucido, for Excellence
Lucido said she was honored to be chosen for the award for Excellence. “I thank Dominican College for always giving me the opportunity to develop my leadership, to step out of the box, to learn what it means to make a difference in the world,” she said.
After deciding that she was better suited to a career in education, Lucido left her job in sales and marketing and went back to college to get her teaching certificate and later her Masters of Science in Education from Walden University. She now teaches kindergarten and first grade students at the Anne Blanche Smith School in Hillsdale, N.J. Lucido was named 2016 Teacher of the Year in her school district and was nominated four times for the New Jersey State Teacher of the Year. Since 2001, she has been coming back to Dominican College to serve as a co-director and choreographer of the College’s spring musical.
Edward Astorino, for Leadership
At Dominican College, Astorino served as Class President, president of the Student Government Association, and president of the Aquin Players. He was the recipient of four Leadership Awards as well. Upon graduation, Astorino used those leadership skills to rise in business from a help desk support representative to an ITT Project Manager, running projects worth millions of dollars.
Astorino has never forgotten his friends at Dominican College. “I’ve always been coming back. Years have gone by where I haven’t been able to come back because of travel,” he said. “But I know that I could always walk through that door and feel like I never left.” Recently, Astorino has been helping out as a production assistant with the Dominican College spring musical.
Clare McClarnon Steward, for Service
Steward often volunteers her time playing the bagpipes, including at Dominican College’s graduation ceremony. She is an active member of two bagpipe bands, serves as a Cub Scout Den Leader and is involved in the choir and the religious education program at St. Margaret’s Church in Pearl River. She is a past recipient of the Veritas Medal at Dominican College and has been honored by the Rockland County Ancient Order of the Hibernians and received a certificate of recognition from the Marine Corps League. Steward said she is very humbled and honored by her induction into the Alumni Hall of Achievement.
“I’m not looking for an honor or a recognition of what I do. I just do what I do because it’s who I am. It’s who Dominican has taught me to be,” she said.
A photo of the honorees will be placed in the Alumni Hall of Achievement in the lobby of Prusmack Center.