(Back Row, L to R) – Michael Letto, Rev. Thomas Collins, Xavier Flores Jr., Jessica Letto (Front Row, L to R) – Evelyn Flores, Elise Flores, Donal Connaughton, Eric Welwin
Two Stepinac High School seniors—Donal Connaughton and Eric Welwin, both of Yonkers, were honored recently as recipients of the annual Xavier E. Flores Memorial Scholarship Award, established in memory of the esteemed Stepinac alumnus who tragically passed away from COVID-19 in April 2020 at the age of 49.
In a ceremony, which was attended by Evelyn Flores—the widow of Xavier E. Flores—and other members of Xavier’s family, the students each received $2,500 in recognition of their extraordinary community service contributions.
Stepinac President Fr. Thomas Collins (Class of ’79), congratulated the outstanding students for achieving this honor and wished them “continued success at college and in their future careers,” adding: “They have been inspired by Xavier Flores’ legacy of giving back to the community in ways that make a tangible difference in the lives of people who most need it.”
Xavier Flores, who graduated from Stepinac in 1988, was actively involved in his alma mater, helping to raise funds for school programs and serving as co-president of the Crusader Men’s Club. He was also honored with the Block S Award bestowed on individuals whose contributions had a meaningful impact on Stepinac. His son, Xavier M. Flores, graduated from Stepinac as a member of the Class of 2020.
In response to his untimely death, Xavier’s family, friends and Stepinac agreed to honor his compassion, intelligence, sincerity, patience and service by establishing the educational scholarship. In 2021, the first recipients of the award were Julian Mueller of White Plains and Shawn Vembenil of Tarrytown and, last year, James McCauley of New York City and Eduardo Ramirez of Peekskill won scholarships.
In essays that were submitted with their applications for the scholarship, Connaughton and Welwin shared their community service experiences and reflected on the deeper meaning of community service in their lives.
For Connaughton, his experience at Stepinac allowed him to grow “exponentially” in self-confidence, taking advantage of opportunities that strengthened his leadership skills which will help in his post-secondary pursuits. As a result of what Stepinac has given him, he has felt “obliged to give back in any way that I can.” Among the activities that have fulfilled his need are volunteering for Campus Ministry and Rotary Club projects to support underprivileged communities such as food pantry at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and BOX City to raise money for the homeless in Westchester.
He is also looking forward to his most significant service project to date: a seminar on May 16 for Stepinac students on the dangers of vaping and opioid abuse that will be hosted by the school’s inaugural Foroige Club, of which he is a member. Last summer, when he participated in the renowned international Foroige Leadership for Life Conference, he learned an invaluable lesson: “That as important as each individual is to the community, the community is also responsible for uplifting and bettering the individual. “He noted: “This gave me a new, fresh perspective on community service, which is why we decided to launch this initiative to combat the prevalence of vaping and opioid-related illnesses.”
Welwin, who sees service “as an action that allows you to humble yourself and let you embark on the purest form of support you can ever offer to another life,” has been engaged in a wide range of service projects as a youth leader at his church where he helped create fundraisers for the devastated flood victims in Kerala, India and the earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey.
At Stepinac, he takes pride in having collaborated with another student in developing new ways for Stepinac’s A Helping Hand Club to contribute to the well-being of our community. “We created a snack bag drive for the homeless that has become an annual event for our club, allowing us to connect our entire school community to come together and focus on the greater good for our society.”
Both Connaughton and Welwin were members of the groundbreaking Susan and Daniel P. Mahoney Health Sciences Honors Academy. Connaughton, who will be Salutatorian during Class of 2023 Commencement exercises on May 25, will attend the University of Notre Dame. Welwin will continue his academic studies at the prestigious and highly competitive Sophie B. Davis Biomedical Education Program at the CUNY School of Medicine.
