LBHS student receives $10,000 Larry Elovich Memorial Award

The Larry Elovich Scholarship Fund awarded $10,000 to Long Beach High School senior Jayne Hommel last week. She is the first student to receive the scholarship, which will be given to outstanding Long Beach High students every year.

The Larry Elovich Scholarship Fund was created to honor the late Larry Elovich, a well-known attorney, a former Long Beach Democratic Committee chairman and a past president of the Chamber of Commerce, who died at age 77 in 2012.

Elovich’s wife, Helen, his daughter, Lisa, and his close friend, former U.S. Sen. Al D’Amato, presented the Larry Elovich Memorial Award to Hommel at the Long Beach High School Senior Academic Awards Night on May 29.

“We set the scholarship fund up as a way to keep my dad close to our hearts and close to the hearts of people in Long Beach,” Lisa Elovich said. “And it was a way for my dad to keep giving back to the community.”

The money was raised at last August’s inaugural Larry Elovich 5K memorial fun run and walk. Family and friends described Elovich as an avid runner who often participated in 5K races. Shortly after his death, his children set about launching a race in his name, to serve as a scholarship fundraiser for outstanding Long Beach High School students who have a sense of community, display integrity and strive academically and athletically.

Hommel will attend the University of New Hampshire in the fall, Lisa said. She was selected after she submitted her academic and athletic accomplishments, and an essay stating why she loves Long Beach and how she has served the community.

“We had about 30 or 40 applications, and they were all wonderful, and we had lots of really smart and caring young people who applied,” Lisa said. “But Jayne’s essay really stood out. Beside the fact that she is captain of three sports teams and was in the honors society and achieved AP awards, we liked the fact that she was involved in giving back to the community through her charity work, and that she is a hardworking person who has an after-school job. Her essay expressed a lot of humility and she gave a lot of credit to her teachers, her coaches, her parents, and to the community. That would have been really something that my dad would have been proud of.”

The next race and walk is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 2, on the boardwalk at New York Avenue. For more information, or to make a donation to the scholarship fund, email lisa.elovich@gmail.com, or check the city’s Recreation Department web page at www.longbeachny.gov for updates.