Ashley Del Guercio receives Golden Apple Award from York College of PA

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Ashley Del Guercio next to The Golden Apple Award in the York College Education Department.

YORK, PA (02/24/2011)(readMedia)-- York College senior Ashley Del Guercio, a psychology major from Tinton Falls, N.J., now has her name on a prestigious plaque prominently displayed in the College's Department of Education.

Del Guercio is the 2010 Golden Apple Award winner for excellence in the study of Special Education. The Golden Apple Award represents her professionalism as an undergraduate scholar at York College, and in public school classrooms, even before she graduates.

Del Guercio's career goal is school counseling, particularly assessing intellectual disabilities in children. During the 2010 school year, she studied child educational assessment with the York-Adams Lincoln Intermediate Unit (LIU #12) Director Daniel Cane at the York Learning Center, and in a York Suburban Neurological Support Classroom. Her sights are now set on graduate school and a master's degree in school counseling.

"It's for this caliber of student that my wife and I established The Golden Apple Award back in 1993," said Lowell Briggs, assistant professor of communications. "Ashley is the type of future educator who exemplifies the professionalism York College is known for, and which we feel needs to be recognized."

In 1987, Briggs and his wife, Marsha, were blessed with the birth of their daughter, Amber, who has Down Syndrome. Briggs was an adjunct instructor in the Mass Communications major at that time. Four years later, he joined York College as a full-time faculty member. Over the years, he has come to believe that Amber's developmental success is largely due to the many teachers in her Special Education classrooms.

"Our family would not be where we are without the dedication and hard work of Amber's teachers," Briggs said. "I can't think of a better way to honor her teachers than by recognizing future Special Education teachers."

The Briggs family provides a cash award to the Education major with the highest GPA in their Special Education studies. Applicants annually apply for the honor, which includes having their names inscribed on The Golden Apple Award plaque in the Education Department. Education faculty members review the applications and select annual recipients.

"This award means more to me than I can tell you," Briggs said. "Each year, when Amber presents the winner's check to honorees, I'm reminded of how far Amber, my daughter Jenna, Marsha and I have come in 23 years as a family; and more importantly, how many more lives our Golden Apple Award winners will touch in the future."

Located in southcentral Pennsylvania, York College offers more than 50 baccalaureate majors in professional programs, the sciences and humanities to its 4,600 undergraduate students. The College also offers master's programs in business, education and nursing. A center of affordable academic excellence, York is dedicated to the intellectual, professional and social growth of its students. The College helps them develop a concrete plan to attain academic growth and career success; encourages them to try in the "real world" what they learn in the classroom; and prepares them to be professionals in whatever career they pursue.