By Michael Oliveira
For the 38th year, the North Attleborough/Plainville Rotary Club honored seniors, high schoolers and more through its Distinguished Services Awards
The ceremony consisted of five awards that featured six winners and included the Outstanding Citizen, Outstanding Youth, Outstanding Public Employee, Outstanding Educator, and Outstanding Senior awards.
The first award given was for the Outstanding Senior. Ernie Sandland, 70, is a lifelong North Attleborough resident. He is currently working for the North Attleborough school system, which includes the schools that his two daughters went to.
Sandland works on a number of projects around North Attleborough, such as updating the elementary school playground and getting the high school project off the ground.
“North Attleborough helped shape me, I was taught morals, and ethics here” said Sandland during his acceptance speech.
The second award of the night was given to the Outstanding Youth. The recipient was 17-year-old Faith O’Hanlon, who won this award for the work that she has done for heart disease awareness. Her younger sister Scarlett was born with a rare heart defect that required an operation minutes after her birth.
Because of this, Faith launched a Hope for Hearts campaign, which has raised over $10,000 for the American Heart Association with the help of local businesses in North Attleborough.
“My younger sister Scarlett is my best friend, and she is the motivation for all that I do” said O’Hanlon after receiving her award.
The third award was presented to Laura Croteau for the Outstanding Educator. Croteau has been teaching at Amvet Boulevard Elementary School for 15 years as a fourth-grade teacher. This is the same elementary school that she went to, and from a young age she was always working with kids. She ran the Sibling Corner at Cub Scout meetings and worked as a counselor at summer camps.
Croteau said that one of the most rewarding parts about being an educator is when a former student tells her something stuck with them that she taught them. She added that her energy always stays on and making sure the kids know that they are cared for and appreciated is very important.
“I get to go to work every day and just be with kids that just want to learn,” she said. “Yeah, there are challenges, but it’s mostly just joy.”
The Outstanding Public Employee award was given to John Teiner.
Teiner moved to Plainville in 1995, and developed strong ties to the community. Teiner graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in Kinesiology: Physical Education Pedagogy, which is the study of the mechanics of body movements. After graduating, he moved back to Plainville and was named the Parks and Recreation director in April 2015.
Teiner is also responsible for processing the registration of each participant who signs up for the town’s recreation programs, and manages the “Field of Dreams” on School Street in Plainville through which he schedules field use for youth sports such as baseball and soccer. Teiner said the most rewarding part of is seeing kids succeed, feel good about themselves and develop in whatever activity they chose.
His longtime friend Chris took his place in accepting the award, and said many good things about Teiner and how kids are always going up to him and wanting to say hello, which shows the impact that he makes.
The final award of the night was presented to sisters Olivia Carver, and Lynn Casey for the Outstanding Citizen Award. The sisters are the owners of the Chieftain Pub in Plainville. They took over the ownership of the pub from their parents and credit them for starting the tradition of giving back to deserving organizations.
They contribute to various events in the Plainville area such as the For Kids’ Sake Foundation and the Plainville Firefighters Annual Golf Tournament. They are always giving back to the community in various different ways.
