Among a graduating class with no shortage of noteworthy individuals, New Canaan High School seniors Katherine “Kit” Mallozzi and John “Jack” Robey have been recognized as leaders among their peers. At a Board of Education meeting Monday evening, June 2, Dr. Mary Kolek, the school district’s superintendent, presented the two with the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) Student Leadership Award.
Only one male and one female in a CABE member district’s high school and middle school are eligible each year to receive the award, which Kolek noted takes into account leadership at school and in students’ personal lives.
“She’s one of the world’s great optimists,” Kolek said as she called on Mallozzi to receive the award, describing the senior as “someone who embraces life, a friend to all and a ray of sunshine.”
Kolek said Mallozzi’s high school career contains a number of examples of service and leadership. That includes working with the Student Advocates in her freshman year — which Mallozzi completed entry forms and interviewed for even though she was too young at the time to join, according to Kolek. The group’s leaders allowed Mallozzi to participate, however, because of the initiative she showed.
“It was a wise decision and a lucky day for New Canaan High School,” Kolek said. “Since then, Kit has become one of the leaders and a role model for other advocates.”
Mallozzi has also worked to prevent student bullying, Kolek noted, and is a student ambassador welcoming eighth graders and transfer students to the high school. Outside of her school life, Mallozzi is an active youth group member who’s gone on “several mission trips to rebuild homes and churches” and visits homebound, elderly residents with Meals on Wheels.
“It’s easy to understand that Kit experiences the good because she sees the good in others,” Kolek said.
Robey is someone “who does not seek the spotlight, but who serves as a beacon because of the light he leaves,” Kolek then said of the second award recipient. She added that Robey has “an excellent work ethic” and that “his counselor notes that Jack shows a great maturity in that it is not grades, but learning that motivates and guides his choices.”
Kolek noted that Robey completed all the high school’s courses in French — then went a significant step further by spending a month in France in a language immersion program. He’s been a “dedicated, disciplined” member of the boys swim team throughout high school as well, Kolek said, and he applied that attitude also to his studies. And like Mallozzi, Robey is a member of the Student Advocates.
“He’s a genuine friend to students with many backgrounds,” Kolek said of Robey, who’s “confident and caring” and, just as important, a good listener.
“When you see someone else in need, you’re willing to forego your own need in order to reach out to others,” Kolek said to him. “That’s truly a gift, Jack.” Robey, she concluded, “is the kind of man we all want as a student, a colleague, a boss and a neighbor.”
Board of Education Chairman Hazel Hobbs, left, stands with CABE Student Leadership Award recipients Jack Robey and Kit Mallozzi.