Scholar Athlete: Sean Grossman, Port Jefferson HS

Port Jefferson High School senior Sean Grossman is this week's winner of the News 12 Scholar-Athlete Award, sponsored by Four Leaf Federal Credit Union. Sean wears a lot of uniforms in Port Jeff, and this is one of his favorites. He's a volunteer firefighter. He started in the junior program, and now he's the real deal. And when he's not fighting fires, he's burning up the track and cross-country course. He's an all-state runner with two county titles to his name. He's the defending cross-country champion and the outdoor track mile champion. He's also a cornerstone of a cross-country team that's won back-to-back state championships. The first in Port Jeff since the 70s. The boys that we wanted with definitely created like lifelong friendships with them. Like I still talk to all of them even though you know they're all full and whatnot. It definitely just, it definitely hit me differently. It was just a really good moment. We've had some really tough kids on this team and Sean has been fortunate enough to see that before he was ready for it. And now when he was ready for it at this point, he had an idea of what was supposed to happen. And he just does what he has to do. He takes it into another year. Especially at the championship meets. Always at the championship meets. Sean is also a local history buff, so he combined that history and his love of running and created the Culper Spy Ring 5K. From the ads to the route to the trophies, he planned everything. And in three years, he's raised $27,000. I'll see people and they're like, yeah, I'm running the Culper Spy this year or whatever, or I'll see like a local store owner and they'll want to get a sponsorship for next year. And it felt really great having people like come out and support me. And the money from the race goes to the Three Village Historical Association to turn a barn on its property into an education and history center. Sean is also on the Historical Society's Youth Advisory Council. He's also in the Varsity Club, the Leo Club, a town lifeguard. And he has a 99 unweighted GPA. And like all of our winners, Sean gets a $1,000 scholarship from Four Leaf Federal Credit Union. I'm Kevin Maher.