Marianne Paton Chamber president DJ Rucsik and Pine Island Elementary School Principal Rob Mazzoli presented music teacher Gwen Fristenski with the Al Mills Citizen of the Year award which is presented annually by the Greater Pine Island Chamber of Commerce.

Pine Island Elementary School music teacher Gwen Fristenski is this year’s Al Mills Citizen of the Year.

For going above and beyond for the community, the Greater Pine Island Chamber of Commerce selects a person or organization to receive the annual award, which was announced this year during the January Chamber annual dinner and elections meeting.

Presenting the award was PIE principal Rob Mazzoli, who described Fristenski as “caring, dedicated and a passionate teacher and mother.”

“I met Gwen only a couple of years ago since becoming principal at Pine Island Elementary. She has such an energy that is contagious and her passion for music and the children quickly caught my eye,” Mazzoli said. “At the end of last year, we were given a blow. With the shortfall from our state budget, the district had to make some tough decisions. Art and music was the center of attention a year ago. It was decided that schools would only be able to offer art one semester and music one semester. The part of my job that is the hardest is telling someone, especially of Gwen’s quality, that they no longer have a job. I had to let Gwen go at the end of last year.”

According to Mazzoli, the dismissal did not keep Fristenski from her need to ensure the PIE students still had an opportunity to enjoy music in their school schedules.

“Gwen wanted to continue to provide the opportunities for our students in music. You see, for the past five and a half months, my school was not offering music, we were offering art. Gwen has volunteered her time to provide music to our children once a week,” said Mazzoli. “We developed a schedule so that all classrooms would get to see Gwen and get that music education. Not only that, she has continued with our choir program which continues to perform out in the community and she put on an outstanding Winter Musical. All of this while volunteering her time. I don’t know of any other school that has had this type of commitment and dedication from any on individual.”

Mazzoli also said that Fristenski has continued to lead the student choir and selects students to represent Pine Island Elementary in the All County Honor Choir and has organized and coordinated an end of the year talent show. Last year, Fristenski approached Mazzoli with the idea of incorporating technology in music education that actively engaged the students. After researching the lab and going through training, Fristenski successfully included a Yamaha Keyboard Lab so all students would experience a variety of musical sounds and the opportunity to play the keyboard.

On accepting her award, Fristenski was visibly surprised.

“I had no idea that I was going to be named Citizen of the Year by the chamber. I just thought I was coming here for a nice dinner and to listen to an interesting guest speaker,” said Fristenski. “It is such a blessing to be part of the community that I grew up in and I am happy to be able to bring music to your children.”