Liberty's Meghan Burke attends State of the State Address

 Liberty Central School District was one of 62 schools chosen by Governor Cuomo’s transition team to represent Sullivan County at the State of the State Address on Wednesday, January 5. Liberty Senior Megahn Burke represented the district, community and county.

In an effort to drive home the message that his administration would ‘do things differently,’ Governor Andrew Cuomo held the event at the Albany Convention Center instead of the State Capitol. For the first time since 1928, the public was invited to attend and internet-age technology was used to help deliver the presentation. In addition, one student representing every county in the state was invited to attend the address, and Liberty was chosen to represent Sullivan County.

“We were honored to be one of 62 districts out of the over 700 schools in New York State chosen for this privilege,” said Liberty Superintendent Michael B. Vanyo. “Governor Cuomo’s staff praised Liberty for the positive changes they are seeing in our district, and that is a reflection on everyone –students, faculty, administration and our community.”

Governor Cuomo’s transition team asked Vanyo to select a senior who had leadership qualities and who represented the district, community and county in the most positive light. As a result, a committee was assembled and Megahn Burke was selected. “When Mr. Vanyo told me, I couldn’t grasp the concept that it was one person from the entire county and that person was me. It was truly an honor,” explains Megahn.

An active participant in both school and community, Megahn is senior class president, a member of the Student Liaison and numerous groups including National Honor Society, Go Green, SADD and Honors Orchestra. In addition, she is a member of the varsity soccer, basketball and softball teams and is a participant in the travel soccer team, Liberty United.

Ms. Burke also participates in a number of community service projects and was chosen to be a part of the New York East HOBY (Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership) organization and attended the Albert Schwietzer’s HOBY World Leadership Congress in Washington, DC in 2009 and the Leadership for Life program in Dublin, Ireland this past June.

In addition to attending the State of the State Address, Megahn was invited to meet with State Senator John J. Bonacic and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther to discuss the speech and the events of the day.

“Amazing,” is how Megahn described the experience. “The Governor made the speech very personable. Everyone in the audience was very attentive and I think it made a good impact on the public.”

But like most New Yorkers, Megahn is a realist. “I just hope he can follow through on all of the innovative ideas he proposed. We need change, but it has to be a sincere effort on everyone’s part.”