Greene County Children, Youth & Community Advisory Board Name

Samuel Mozzillo, Coxsackie-Athens High School – 2022 Greene County Youth of the Year; Gabriel Hoglund – Coxsackie-Athens High School – Children, Youth & Community Advisory Board Chairman’s Choice Award

Samuel Mozzillo is the son of Samuel and Lucille Mozzillo of Athens has been

a volunteer in his community since 2015 when he joined the Cairo Boy Scouts,
and has served as a Senior Patrol Leader, Junior Asst. Scout Master, as well as
assisted the Cairo Hose Company with their annual Election Day Spaghetti
Dinner. In 2021, he was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout, with his project
being the construction of a song bird enclosure for Friends of the Feathered and
Furry. Since 2017, he has assisted the E J Arthur PTO at various events
including the annual Halloween parties, Breakfast with Santa, 5K run and other
school events. As a Scout, he is devoted to our veterans and has played taps for
both the Greene County Honor-A-Vet ceremony and at funeral services for
Veterans, as well as distributed poppies for Memorial Day as a Sons of the
American Legion member. In 2020, he joined the Athens Volunteer Fire
Department and has participated in drills, fire calls, as well as the social side of
parades and hanging holiday lights around the Village of Athens for Christmas.
In 2021, Sam was named as an Ambassador to the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership (HOBY) Conference and this June, he will attend American Legion Boys State, a most respected
and selective educational program of government instruction for U.S. high school students. Samuel has made the school’s honor roll several times and was named to the National Honor Society last year. He is active in various clubs (Drama Club, Varsity Club, Hope Club, and Outdoor Club) and as a member of Band/Chorus was named to All County. In addition, he is an athlete having been of the school’s Soccer, Volleyball and Baseball teams. He has been named a Scholar-Athlete and won MIP for soccer and MVP for volleyball this school year. Darlene Mergendahl, his nominator, sums Sam up this way, “if you need something to be taken care of, Sam will always be the first person to raise his hand to volunteer.”


Gabriel D. Hoglund is the son of Eric and Jean Hoglund of Hannacroix and
began giving back to his community in 2013 as an Altar Server at St. Mary’s
Roman Catholic Church in Coxsackie. He later assisted with the church’s
podcast project and in 2021, joined the church’s Youth & Faith Formation
group. Since 2019, he has assisted RSVP volunteers with Home Delivered
Meals when on vacation from school; has helped with the annual Thanksgiving
Dinner provided by Hope’s Mission and serves as a tutor for Math for Special
Education students in the C-A school district. In 2019, he co-founded the C-A
High School Christian Life Club and currently serves as Vice-President.
Gabriel was appointed to the NYS YMCA & Youth Government having
served as a Legislative Chair and in 2021 was awarded “Best Bill” and “Best
Debater”. . He volunteers his time by stocking shelves at the Coxsackie Food Pantry and by serving as a music tutor for guitar and ukulele. This past February he worked with Catholic Charities Food Distribution Truck by loading boxes and bringing to clients’ cars. He has received several personal achievement awards: Young Playwright Capital Repertory Theater and nationally was named one of the top 5,000 Fastest Rubik’s Cube Solvers by the World Cube Association. Academically, Gabe has made the High Honor Roll and is a member of the National Honor Society. He has served as his class treasurer and was President of the 2020 Mock Trial team. He is a member of the school’s Investment Club, Outdoors Club, currently President; a member of the Jazz Band (bassist) and Senior Band (1st Clarinet), and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper. He has been on the school’s soccer, volleyball and track teams.