Friday, January 17, 2025
As a child, Oceanside resident Karen Davis, 56, always expressed a desire to become a teacher, as evidenced by schoolbooks in which she repeatedly marked "teacher" as her career aspiration.
She now fulfills that dream at Lincoln Orens Middle School in Island Park, enriching not only students, but residents as well, through different avenues like the Island Park Kiwanis Club. Like much of her family, she is making the Island Park community, where she grew up, a better place. For her efforts through the years, the Herald is proud to name Davis its 2024 Person of the Year.
Davis began college at Nassau Community College before transferring to Emerson College in Boston, majoring in radio. She transitioned to marketing and public relations, earning a communications degree after a professor's discouraging remarks led her to reconsider a career on the air. Davis spent eight years working in the corporate arena before transitioning to teaching. She decided to leave the business world after feeling unfulfilled and inspired by her husband’s suggestion to pursue her dream of teaching.
She earned her master’s in education from LIU Post in 1998 and began her teaching career.
Davis remains deeply connected to Island Park despite moving to Oceanside after marrying in 1995. She taught for one year in Rockville Centre, at Riverside Elementary School, balancing the challenges of starting her teaching career while becoming a first-time mother in 1999. Her daughter, who is now studying to become a math teacher, gained an appreciation for the demanding nature of the teaching profession by observing her mom’s dedication.
After teaching in Rockville Centre, Davis she returned to her hometown, securing a teaching position in Island Park in 2000, where she has taught for 25 years. She is actively involved in the Island Park community not only as a teacher, but also as president of the Kiwanis Club, while maintaining family and social ties there.
Davis’ s family has deep roots in Island Park. Her uncle Mickey Hastava was the owner of Hastava Real Estate, which was one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in the Island Park area before it moved to Garden City. Hastava also devoted decades of service to the village. Not long after he graduated from high school in 1954, he founded the Kiwanis Club. He envisioned serving the children and families of the village, and now, through his niece, that mission is still being fulfilled.
Davis has been involved with the Kiwanis organization since she was 16 years old. In high school she was a member of the Key Club, the high school version of Kiwanis. She was the president of the Key Club, and in her 20s she became its adviser.
“She's a dedicated Kiwanian, a leader, and she's really got community spirit and all skills that are necessary to motivate the club to move it forward,” said David Rothman, a former Kiwanis member.
Along with her uncle, Davis’s cousin John Esposito also left a legacy in Island Park. The Commodore Fishing Station, which was at the base of the Long Beach Bridge on the Island Park side, was a cherished community hub that fostered connection, pride, and excitement in Island Park for over 60 years. The business had been in the Esposito family since the 1940s. John Esposito, along with his brother, Clement, and their mother, Rose, dedicated themselves to the family business.
Esposito had a lasting impact on generations of Island Park residents. He would anonymously charter boats to take local students, or Cub Scouts, fishing. After Hurricane Sandy, he anonymously donated over $10,000 to Lincoln Orens to replace stringed instruments in the music department that were destroyed in the storm.
Three years ago, Esposito left a request in his will for his cousin Davis to start a scholarship fund for deserving kids in the village, and last year was the first year Island Park residents could be awarded scholarships due by the John Esposito Commodores Scholarship Foundation.
The nonprofit foundation is managed by a board of directors, with Davis as its president and offers four $25,000 scholarships annually for the foreseeable future to Island Park residents who attend Long Beach High School or a private school. The money, from Esposito’s estate, has been invested to ensure its perpetuity. The scholarships are need-based and focus on family values, community involvement, and work ethic rather than good grades and are forever tied to the history of the Commodore fishing station, owned by the Esposito family.
“She’s a crown jewel,” said Island Park Kiwanis member Joe Pontecorvo. “She’s done multiple hours and took the time and the patience to just keep it together, and doesn’t ask for anything, and it's a great achievement for Island Park that she has the kids doing the right thing.”
The Middle School Builders Club, the middle school version of the Kiwanis Club, started an initiative called "Cocoa for Cancer" to raise money for cancer-related causes. The idea came from a student in the Builders Club whose aunt had passed away from melanoma. The student wanted to raise money in her aunt's name.
Another student in the Builders Club had been diagnosed with cancer as a child and had received chemotherapy treatments. She shared how a volunteer had once brought her a coloring book during a treatment, which brightened her day. The Builders Club then used the money raised from selling hot chocolate to purchase coloring books, crayons, and other small gifts to donate to the hospital where the student received her treatments.
The first recipient of the John Esposito Commodore Scholarship was the same student who had cancer as a child and participated in the Cocoa for Cancer initiative. After receiving the scholarship, this student went on to attend Molloy University to become a nurse, with the goal of caring for cancer patients.
“If these builders club kids, if they can learn to give back, it could change, their life direction,” Davis said. “She’s better now and the fact that she started with cancer and now has come full circle. She got the scholarship, and now she's going to be a nurse for cancer patients. I think that's pretty great.”
The club has seen a revival in recent years and Davis worked closely with the Island Park school district and local businesses to revitalize the organization. The club experienced a decline in membership over the years, particularly during the pandemic. But with the help from people Oceanside Board of Education Trustee Seth Blau, the group bounced back and strengthened the connection between the Oceanside and Island Park Kiwanis clubs.
“When I was president of the Kiwanis Long Island Southwest Division, the Island Park Club was struggling,” Blau said. “I told her I was going to commit to help rebuild the club, but she's the glue that has kept that together. I couldn't have juggled everything they've done and welcomed all the people in the way that she has.”
The club hosted its annual Lobster Bake fundraiser for over 40 years, as well as pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners, Sip and Paint events, and breakfasts with Santa which funds trips for children to attend Camp Kiwanis. The club, with 23 members, has increased its activities. They are also planning a line dancing fundraiser.
The Kiwanis Club of Island Park is starting a new scholarship program in addition to the existing John Esposito Commodore Scholarship, offering two scholarships to students from Long Beach High School who live in Island Park. This is a returning initiative for the Club, as they have not offered its own scholarship in years.
“I'm always busy doing something,” Davis said. “If it's not lesson plans for school, it's making phone calls or arrangements for some type of fundraiser. That was the same thing with Mickey. There are Kiwanis well into the 80s, still going to meetings, still doing food drives, still helping the community, doing what they can. And I guess maybe that'll be me, in the future. Because, why not?"
