Samuel Discenza
The Milford Columbus Committee has announced the 2023 award recipients for Italian-American of the Year, as well as its 2023 scholarship recipients.
Samuel Discenza of accounting firm Discenza, Beck and Lee has won the committee’s award for Italian-American of the Year. Discenza served as a board member of the Milford Jaycees and participated in many fundraising activities. He has also served on the board and as treasurer of the Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce for 21 years. H has been part of the Stratford Visiting Nurse Association as a board member and president, and was a member of the Milford Club, Inc. the second oldest men’s social club in the US. There he served as a board member, house chairman and president. An avid golfer, Discenza joined Mill River Country and served on the board as treasurer for 11 years.
The committee has given a Special Achievement award to Jennifer Fiorillo, who is president and CEO of Bridges Healthcare in Milford, and a Milford-Orange Times columnist. It has also given a Special Recognition award to Beverly K. Streit-Kefalas, probate court administrator for the State of Connecticut. Streit-Kefalas was formerly in charge of the Milford-Orange Probate Court and is a former Milford-Orange Times columnist.
Jennifer Fiorillo
Beverly K. Streit-Kefalas
The winners of the committee’s student scholarships are: Olivia Jenkins, a graduate of St. Joseph High School in Trumbull; Madeline Elmo, a rising freshman at Southern Connecticut State University who graduated from Joseph A. Foran High School in Milford; Julia Deicicchi, who also graduated from Foran and will be attending the College of Charleston; and Emma Acri, a life-long resident of Milford and a 2023 graduate of Trumbull High School’s Regional Agriscience and Biotechnology Program.
Olivia Jenkins
Madeline Elmo
Julia Deicicchi
Emma Acri
The announcement of the award recipients comes in advance of the committee’s 2023 dinner dance on Saturday, Oct. 14. The $110.00 ticket sales for the dinner dance raise funds for the yearly scholarship awards.
The members of the Columbus Committee self-funded the scholarships for the two years of COVID, and the dinner dances resumed last year, with this year’s taking place at Vazzano’s Four Seasons in Stratford.