Front Row: Lacey Rose DeLucia, Domenica Paccione, Helena Stylianou, Bryan Bosques, Gabriella Frassetti, Makenna Athanassiou, Angela LaMarch, Jessica Reneri, Gabriella Martinez. Second Row: Assemblyman Michael Cusick and Assemblywoman Michele Titus, Chair of the Task Force on People with Disabilities. Staten Island School Children visit Albany for the Annual New York State Assembly Legislative Disability Awareness Day. The children are winners of an essay contest sponsored by Assemblyman Cusick on “What Disability Means to Me.”

Staten Island school children proudly display their awards for winning the Disability Awareness poster contest. Assemblyman Cusick invited them to join him on his television show "Assembly Update."

Staten Island school children learn the techniques of voting in the Assembly Chamber at the State Capitol with Assemblyman Cusick. The children were the winners of the Disability Awareness Poster contest sponsored by the Assemblyman.

The students created posters following the contest’s theme. The winners and their families traveled to Albany to take part in the Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day where their posters were on display and the children were introduced to the crowd and presented with their awards. Later in the afternoon they attended the Assembly session in the Capitol where they watched the proceedings of the House and the passage of the series of bills aimed to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.

“People with disabilities often face obstacles and challenges in their day to day lives that we take for granted, such as convenient parking, banking, voting or putting gas into their cars. Legislative Disability Awareness Day is an opportunity to bring attention to these issues,” said Assemblyman Cusick.

The winners of the poster contest are:

Kindergarten - Notre Dame Academy
First Place, Lacey Rose DeLucia
Second Place, Domenica Paccione

First Grade - Notre Dame Academy
First Place, Helena Stylianou

First Grade - P.S. 5
Second Place, Bryan Bosques

Second Grade - Notre Dame Academy
First Place, Gabriella Frassetti
Second Place, Jennifer Gatto

Third Grade - Notre Dame Academy
First Place, Makenna Athanassiou

Third Grade - P.S. 55
Second Place, Devin Gepes

Fourth Grade - P.S. 6
First Place, Vincent Panariello
Second Place, Angela LaMarch

Fifth Grade - P.S. 4
First Place, Jessica Reneri

Fifth Grade - Our lady Queen of Peace
Second Place, Gabriella Martinez.

“I am pleased that the children from our schools on Staten Island were able to attend the New York State Assembly’s Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day in Albany. Their enthusiasm and effort put forth in creating posters showing how important it is to consider the difficulties disabled individuals face makes me proud,” concluded Assemblyman Cusick.