Greater Bay Shore coverage is funded in part by Shoregate, now leasing brand-new premium apartment homes in the heart of Bay Shore. Click here to schedule a tour.
Bay Shore High School is working toward a new and better way to commemorate former students who serve or have served in the U.S. military.
Right now, the high school does display a glass cabinet that is papered with 48 photos of former students, which is pictured above.
“It’s very crowded and it is bordering on unprofessional looking,” said guidance counselor Viki Zimolka.
Zimolka is taking the lead in fundraising efforts to build a new display that would properly showcase Bay Shore High School alumni who also fought for the country.
“Our graduates are more than deserving,” she said.
She set up a GoFundMe page in February and has since raised over 10 percent of the approximate $22,000 it will cost for the proposed display. The new Wall of Honor would consist of a row of framed pictures behind a plexiglass shielding with a heading that reads:
“Bay Shore High School Veterans in Honor of Those Served.”
The exhibit is planned for the high school’s Little Theater Lobby, across from the Alumni Association Hall of Fame Wall.
The big push to build the Wall of Honor is also being driven by the cherished memory of a former faculty member, the person who first envisioned a display honoring Bay Shore’s military members: Therese Garcia.
Garcia was a secretary in the Health, Physical Education and Athletics Office.
“Her son had served and she felt that [Bay Shore High School] was remiss for not having a display that acknowledged graduates who had served,” explained Zimolka.
Garcia, by herself, started collecting photos for the current display, until she passed away in the spring of 2011.
“In her memory we want to pick up where she left off,” said Zimolka.
(Top: The current display glass cabinet for alumni who served.)
