North Side Elementary School student Ryan Cozzolino had more than 15 minutes of fame last month, and he’s pleased at the result.
When an essay he recorded about “How School Makes Me Feel Good to be Me,” was broadcast on several New York metro radio stations last month, it drew the attention of family and friends, and the third grader’s schoolmates at the East Williston school.
“I did good. I felt very proud,” Cozzolino said.
But Ryan said he was a little uncomfortable with the attention he drew from his North Side classmates after they all heard the recorded essay.
“Everybody in my class was staring at me. It made me feel strange,” he said.
Ryan was the winner in the primary school category on the subject of why school makes students feel good about themselves in the annual Long Island Presidents’ Council of New York State United Teachers essay contest in May.
Ryan’s winning essay recounted how he felt during his school’s Read-a-Thon last year to raise funds for books Long Beach schools lost during Hurricane Sandy. The students had received contributions from sponsors they solicited based on the amount of the reading they pledged to do after school.
“Helping all the schools in Long Beach made me feel like I had a bigger heart than I had before,” Ryan wrote. “Helping replace thousands of books is a hard job for a second grader to do. I’m glad I had 99 other students and teachers beside me as we raised $10,000. I hope Long Beach is in good shape now.
The radio spots featuring Ryan’s essay aired in a rotation featuring other essay contest winners on WBAB-FM , WALK-FM, WBLI-FM, WBZO-FM, WHFM-FM, WHLI-AM, WJVC-FM, WKJY-FM, WLNG-FM, WWSK-FM and WTHE-AM between Sept. 9 and Sept. 28, according to Ray Adell, chairman of Ray Adell Media Enterprises, which promotes the radio spots.
Ryan’s entry was selected from among essays submitted by students in grades K through 2 at his school, and then from among essays in those grades for Nassau and Suffolk counties. The teachers’ council contest chooses finalists in each division from the primary grades, intermediate grades, middle school, and high school entrants, and for the first time this year, teachers.
“A lot of family and friends have been calling. He’s definitely made a name for himself,” said Ryan’s mother, Christine Cozzolino.
She said the first time her son heard the radio spot, he was surprised at the sound of his own voice.
“He got to hear it one morning with the rest of the family. And he said, ‘Why is my voice so high?’” she said.
Ryan, who lives with his family in East Williston, said he enjoyed recording the essay at radio station WBAB.
“I was like a famous pop star who finally made it to WBAB,” Ryan said.
But the experience hasn’t changed the eight-year-old’s career aspirations.
“I want to be an architect actually. I’m great at drawing. I’m really smart,” Ryan said.
