Chamber award winners say community service is rewarding
Dave Slusarick Creative director Uniontown I think there’s more to that situation than maybe meets the eye. And there’s more to it than what we have discovered to this point. I don’t know whether there was a single bullet or not, but there were definitely other people involved in a conspiracy I believe.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
During the annual Fayette Chamber of Commerce awards dinner on Thursday, from left, Edward J. Franczyk of United Bank received the Citizen of the Year Award; David Meredith, engineering professor at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, received the Al Botti Award for education; and Randy Miller, Laurel Highlands School District’s curriculum coordinator, was honored as one of the five local educators to win 2013 Fayette County Educators of the Year.
WHARTON TWP. — Recipients of the Fayette Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards said community service is rewarding.
The chamber presented its 2013 Citizen of the Year Award to Edward J. Franczyk, the Herman M. Buck Award to David Slusarick and the Al Botti Award for Excellence in Education to Dr. David Meredith at its 88th annual awards dinner at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington on Thursday.
In addition to the awards, all three recipients received citations from the state Senate sponsored by Sen. Richard Kasunic, D-Dunbar, and citations from the state House of Representatives sponsored by Reps. Deberah Kula, D-North Union Township, and Tim Mahoney, D-South Union Township.
Franczyk, market president of United Bank in Pennsylvania, said volunteering is part of being successful in business.
“Success in business doesn’t just happen in the office. You must get involved in the community,” Franczyk said. “Volunteering isn’t a choice. It’s a responsibility.”
Franczyk serves on the advisory boards of several organizations, including Penn State, The Eberly Campus; Fayette County Career and Technology Institute; and Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He also serves on the board of directors of Fay-Penn Economic Development Council and the Imagination Library of Greater Uniontown.
He and his wife, Judy Franczyk, co-chaired the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk that raised $75,000 for medical research this year. Aaron Franczyk, one of their two sons, introduced him at the ceremony.
“We can’t stand alone. We need family, we need friends and we need the community to survive,” Edward Franczyk said.
The winner of the chamber’s Buck Award in 1994, Edward Franczyk said the Citizen of the Year award was the highest honor he has received.
“Being names Citizen of the Year is the highest honor anyone like me can ever expect to receive,” he said.
The Buck Award, which is given to someone under 45 years old who volunteers in the community, was presented to Slusarick, the creative director and television team leader for Coordinated 360 of Uniontown.
He said he is happy to share the many blessings he has in his life.
“To whom much is given, much is expected,” Slusarick said. “If you live your passion, the universe is going to show you a way to use that passion.”
A 2005 graduate of Uniontown Area High School, Slusarick serves on the Rotary Club of Uniontown’s board of directors and is the district assistant for Rotary District 7330. He represented the district in an exchange group visit to Brazil this year.
He is involved with the Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Salvation Army Uniontown Corps advisory board, served in the Heart Walk committee with Franczyk, a fourth degree Knight of Columbus and is active in St. Therese de Lisieux Roman Catholic Church Parish in Uniontown.
“All of us can find meaning in life by doing for others,” Slusarick said.
Meredith said he receives more than he gives when he serves the community.
“Every time I give a nickel to the community, I get a dime back,” Meredith said.
Other than the man for whom the award was named, Meredith is the first recipient of the Botti award.
Botti, a teacher, principal, assistant and interim superintendent in the Laurel Highlands School District, chaired the chamber’s education council. He also was the co-founder of Intermediate Unit 1 and the first director of Fayette County Head Start. He died a year and a half ago.
“He was the life blood of the chamber education council. He was an amazing man,” said Muriel Nuttall, executive director of the chamber.
Albert Botti, the late Botti’s son, introduced Meredith, who has been an associate professor of general engineering at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus since 1979.
During his early days of teaching, he said Al Botti invited him and his students to tour the heating system in the schools in the district.
Meredith is part of the K-12 science, technology, engineering and math program at Penn State; held a summer space camp for grade school girls for more than 20 years, coordinated the regional MathCounts competition for junior high school students for 24 years and chaired the regional Junior Engineering Technology Society competition for high school students for past 21 years.
He created “Girl Power,” a program to encourage middle school aged female students to consider technical careers, 15 years ago and received a national award from the Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network for creating “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.”
In addition to the awards, Hank Dunham, the outgoing chamber board president, said the chamber now has more than 600 members and introduced Greg Parsons, who will become president next year.