Babylon Village, West Babylon, North Babylon, Deer Park, Lindenhurst, West Islip and Long Island, New York
Thursday, August 7, 2025
LIMEHOF 2025 scholarship award winners and LIMEHOF representatives at award ceremony. Courtesy LIMEHOF
The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame recently awarded $1,000 scholarships to 10 graduating seniors who plan to pursue music, music education and the performing arts in college, with one local student from Bay Shore, Athanasia “Sia” Kacharaba, receiving the Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship of $500.
The Pat DeRosa Scholarship is in memory of LIMEHOF inductee Pat DeRosa, an acclaimed saxophonist who performed from Manhattan to Montauk with well-known names of the time, including Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Andy Williams, Dean Martin, John Coltrane and Jerry Lewis. DeRosa also taught music in Huntington and South Huntington and in 2018 the Guinness Book of World Records named him the “World’s Oldest Professional Saxophone Player.” Four years later, in 2002, he was still playing. He died in 2023 and the scholarship has been carried out for the past three years by his daughter and granddaughter, Patricia and Nicole DeRosa.
Patricia DeRosa said that she believes her father would have been proud of this year’s winner, as she described Kacharaba as someone with a lot of good qualities who is excited to be going to school and carrying on the tradition. “My dad was an absolute dynamo and he not only devoted his whole life to playing professionally but was also an inspiration to his students,” said DeRosa, noting that her father was “so giving with his joy.”
“She’s a darling girl and we’re going to keep in touch,” she added of Kacharaba. “This is such a worthwhile scholarship to keep going.”
Kacharaba, a graduate of Bay Shore High School who has been playing the saxophone since the fourth grade, will be studying at SUNY Fredonia as a double-major in saxophone and voice education. She said that it felt great to receive the scholarship and that she did not expect to receive this honor for the saxophone because most of her accolades have been within voice. “And to learn about Pat DeRosa, it’s incredible,” said Kacharaba. “He’s such an inspiration for someone like me.”
Kacharaba plans to become a music teacher. “I have had a bunch of teachers who have inspired me to go into education,” she said.
The other 2025 LIMEHOF scholarship winners include: Eden Yiya Hu of Wading River, a graduate of Shoreham Wading River High School, for violin; Elliot Jaklitsch of Port Jefferson Station, a graduate of Comsewogue High School, for cello/horn; Justin Lowenhar of Greenlawn, a graduate of Harborfields High School, for Musical Theater- Tenor; William MacIntosh of Farmingville, a graduate of St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip, for violin; Maya McCarthy of Rocky Point, a graduate of Rocky Point High School, for Mezzo Voice, violin and piano; Romy Park of Plainview, a graduate of Plainview-Old Bethpage High School, for viola; Ashley Retzlaff of Freeport, a graduate of Freeport High School, Mezzo Soprano, for Musical Theater; DeAndre Simmons of Huntington, a graduate of Huntington High School, for violin; Mackenzie Sweeney of Center Moriches, a graduate of Center Moriches High School, for French Horn; and Alyssa Wong of Great Neck,a graduate of Great Neck South High School, for Musical Theater.
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