NYIT Community Raises More Than $65K for Athletics

Alumni, family, friends, and staff members gathered at NYIT Athletics' 10th Golf Outing on June 15 at the Muttontown Club in East Norwich, N.Y., where they celebrated another successful academic year on the fields of play and in the classroom. Golfers raised more than $65,000 for the Bears Athletic Fund, which benefits NYIT's 12 intercollegiate athletics programs and assists in making facility upgrades and improving recruitment efforts, among other things.

At a dinner following rounds on the green, Patricia "Patty" Burnside (B.S. '86, M.S. '91), a former two-sport student-athlete in softball and volleyball, received the Big Bear Award. This special honor is presented annually in memory of John Smillie Jr., the beloved late athletic trainer who served NYIT Athletics for 14 years. Recipients are leaders dedicated to advancing athletics in their local communities.

Burnside is a business technology educator and volleyball coach for the school district in East Meadow, N.Y., and is often spotted cheering on the Bears at matches on the Old Westbury campus. At its annual Athletics Awards Banquet each spring, NYIT presents the Patty Burnside Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award to recognize a senior who demonstrates ideals of athleticism, sportsmanship, and integrity—all espoused by the award's namesake.

Event highlights also included par-3 contests, raffles, live and silent auctions, and a hole-in-one opportunity to win at 2015 Lincoln MKZ co-sponsored by Bright Bay Lincoln/Mazda and Frank Palumbo (B.S. '91) of American Capital Partners, LLC.