Ten years later, scholarships carry on Officer Derek Kotecki's legacy - TribLIVE

sumurbelakang.blogspot.com

An industrial products salesman who is a firefighter. A corrections officer at a halfway house. A pharmacist in Baltimore.

They never met Lower Burrell senior patrolman Derek Kotecki, but he touched their lives unexpectedly with an educational scholarship.

Oct. 12 marks the 10th anniversary of when Kotecki, 40, was killed in an ambush at the Dairy Queen along Greensburg Road.

In the decade that has passed, the grief and memories of the good times remain for those who knew and loved him. His legacy is carried on in the 53 scholarships awarded, with more to come. An endowment has been set up to support future scholarships.

Brent Zanella remembers as a student at Burrell 10 years ago, he lined the streets with other students and residents to watch the Kotecki funeral procession. Little did he know he someday would win a Kotecki scholarship and go on to a career in sales.

“That scholarship helped me save a lot of money,” said Zanella, now 26 and living in Upper Burrell, of the $1,000 he received. “It was definitely awesome and definitely appreciated.”

Michael Santucci, 26, of New Kensington said Kotecki’s death was among his inspirations to pursue a career in criminology. As a student at Valley High School, he, too, wouldn’t have guessed a Kotecki scholarship would help him start his educational journey — and become a security professional.

Jessica Cercone, 25, graduated from Burrell in 2014. She was a high school basketball player. She received a Kotecki scholarship to help pay for her graduate studies in pharmacy at the University of Pittsburgh.

Cercone said she wanted to say “thank you” to everyone who contributed to the scholarships. “They are a great way to honor his memory, and it’s great to see the Burrell community keep his name alive,” she said.

Over the decade, money for the scholarships has been raised in various ways by the Kotecki family and friends. The main fundraiser is an annual golf outing at Hill Crest Country Club in Lower Burrell that features gift baskets, raffles and other celebratory and fundraising gestures.

Kotecki’s wife, Julie, and two sons, Nicholas and Alex, are happy to be associated with the scholarships and events honoring his memory.

“Everyone involved has ensured the scholarship in Derek’s name will continue to be awarded for years to come,” Julie Kotecki said. “The scholarship was our way to give back to the community who has shown our family so much support.”

She expressed thanks to the organizers, golfers, sponsors, volunteers and other patrons. “We will always be grateful and proud to be part of such a wonderful and caring community,” she said.

The Kotecki family is also grateful for the dedication five years ago of a Lower Burrell park along Wildlife Lodge Road, which was officially named Officer Kotecki Memorial Park. The park name is now common parlance for the thousands of annual visitors, including the local sports teams that frequent the park.

Let’s play golf

As friends rallied around the Kotecki family after the tragedy, they formed a small committee and decided to raise money for a scholarship in Kotecki’s name.

“We thought, what a better way to honor him than preparing our youth for the future,” said Shasta Meixelberger, 36, of Upper Burrell, a friend of the Koteckis and daughter of Lower Burrell Police Sgt. Ted Meixelberger.

Fundraisers were planned, and a nonprofit was established to award the funds and manage the money for future scholarships. The Kotecki family, Meixelberger and another event organizer, Audra Flemm, award nine scholarships each year, ranging from $500 to $1,000.

The criteria to win the scholarships are pure Derek Kotecki — either students played basketball, as he did, or were involved in or have aspirations to work in the first-responder field, as he did. They have to be students in the Burrell, New Kensington-Arnold and Kiski Area school districts, where Kotecki, a Burrell graduate, lived and worked.

The idea of a golf outing was hatched, along with other events such as a softball tournament and the “Bands and Blue” live music show.

The golf outing, along with basket raffles and a vendor show, stuck and became the major fundraiser. It sells out every year, with this year’s edition selling out the fastest, Meixelberger said.

This summer, the organizers announced 2021 was the last Kotecki outing because funding the scholarships was conceived as a 10-year plan. But they got bombarded with cards, phone calls, friendly inquisitions and pleas to continue the event.

Meixelberger and Flemm, who co-host the outing, relented and recently announced they will continue the tradition.

“We have a lot of the same golfers. It’s like a yearly reunion when we all get to see each other,” Meixelberger said. “It’s neat, too, because our volunteers are the same ones.”

One longtime volunteer is Jason Napier of Lower Burrell, a former city detective sergeant and a current Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office detective.

He and Ted Meixelberger drive the drink cart to the golfers on the greens.

Napier, a close friend and colleague of Kotecki’s, attributes the outing’s success and longevity to Kotecki himself.

“I can’t say enough about his qualities as a person and a police officer, truly the best of the best,” Napier said. “You can ask anyone who ever served with him — people wanted to go to work when he was on duty. He was one of those guys everyone wanted to hang around with. I truly miss him.”

Other police officers from New Kensington and Lower Burrell volunteer for the event, as well. Police from neighboring police departments regularly play in the golf outing.

“The type of work we do creates a unique bond unlike any other jobs,” Napier said. “When we lose one, we never forget.”

How the scholarship winners thrived

Winners of the Derek Kotecki Memorial Scholarships said the money was important when they were starting school and hunting for ways to pay for books to jump-start training for their careers.

Cercone is a pharmacist training in critical care in Baltimore. She graduated from Pitt with a doctorate in pharmacy in 2020, worked at Duke University Hospital for post-graduate studies and then moved to Baltimore for additional studies in critical care.

The Kotecki scholarship was important to help pay expenses in her first year of school at Pitt.

“Starting college has a lot of upfront initial expenses, like needing a laptop and books,” she said. “Freshman room and board can be quite expensive. Any money upfront goes a long way.”

Zanella, the Burrell graduate, didn’t exactly excel in high school, but he has been a volunteer firefighter in Upper Burrell since he was 13.

When he was awarded about a $1,000 scholarship, Zanella was surprised.

The extra money helped pay for his books at Westmoreland County Community College, where he got a break on tuition because he is a firefighter.

“The scholarship money helped me get through my first year of school and allowed me to be debt-free before attending Clarion University,” he said.

Zanella graduated with a business administration and marketing degree. He now works in sales for industrial products.

Santucci, the Valley graduate from New Kensington, came from a family with military and law enforcement roots. Going into the same field felt like a natural fit.

“I remember when Mr. Kotecki passed,” Santucci said. “His death was one of the driving forces that gave me a sense of direction to pursue a career in law enforcement in some capacity.”

When Santucci was a high school senior, a relative told him about the Kotecki scholarship. He applied and received the grant. “I feel very lucky and appreciative,” he said.

Santucci said he needed help with paying for school. The scholarship paid for his books and “the unexpected stuff” like computer software updates and out-of-pocket expenses.

The extra money took away some financial stress from Santucci and his family and got him started at Clarion, where he graduated with a degree in criminology.

Santucci also liked the community buzz around the scholarships.

“Tragedy can blossom into growth and beauty,” he said.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary at 724-226-4691, mthomas@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Adblock test (Why?)

"later" - Google News
October 09, 2021 at 05:01PM
https://ift.tt/3lqdhTm

Ten years later, scholarships carry on Officer Derek Kotecki's legacy - TribLIVE
"later" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KR2wq4


Bagikan Berita Ini