Where are they now? Catching up with previous Marcus A. Henry Award winners

Each year since 2014, Newsday has presented its Marcus A. Henry Award to a Long Island high school student who displays strong leadership and excels in the classroom, athletics and the community. The 2024 recipient of the award — honoring the memory of former Newsday Sports reporter Marcus A. Henry — was Kaylise McClure of Sachem North. Below is a compilation of the previous winners and what they are doing now:

2014: JOE PERCIVAL, St. Anthony's

As the first recipient of the Marcus A. Henry Award, Percival is all about setting a precedent.

Percival played football at Princeton, where he graduated from in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After completing a postgraduate program at Hofstra in 2022 in preparation for medical school, Percival has since moved back home to Huntington to continue caring for his mother.

He said the values of the Marcus A. Henry Award are something he holds close to this day.

“It's about duty, it's about service, it's about having a sense of community,” Percival said. “Keeping those ideas core to who you are is so important, and it's helped me to be a better son and help my mom with all her medical problems. Just continue to be open and warm and nurturing to people.”

Percival is currently preparing to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), and is in the process of applying to medical school. To stay close to home, he plans on applying to Hofstra, Stony Brook and SUNY schools in the downstate area.

2015: THOMAS CUTINELLA, Shoreham-Wading River

Cutinella’s life may have ended on the football field, but his legacy continues to transcend the gridiron 10 years later.

Cutinella tragically passed away on Oct. 1, 2014, after suffering a head injury while playing the game he loved. Since then, his story caught national traction and inspired sports organizations across the country to reevaluate their safety protocols.

Cutinella’s parents, Frank and Kelli, spearheaded the Thomas Cutinella Memorial Foundation, which aims to improve awareness of football-related head injuries, promote the importance of organ donation and raise money for scholarships.

The family also proposed "Tommy Tough" football standards, which were later implemented by the respective sectional directors in Suffolk County (Section XI) and Nassau County (Section VIII). The standards focus on more intentional safety practices with the primary goal of reducing illegal hits and flagrant fouls.

Cutinella’s legacy is bigger than just Shoreham-Wading River football. It’s about protecting young athletes across the nation.

2016: LIVINGSTONE HARRIOTT JR., Central Islip

Since graduating from Brown University in 2020, Harriott is accomplishing everything on his itinerary.

The Brown football standout just completed his third year of law school at St. John’s University, and has returned to a summer associate position at Haynes and Boone — a law firm in New York — for the second year in a row.

He attributes his successes not only to his hard work, but also to his support system.

“Your friends, your family, that's really going to help you get through the rough times and that's really going to push you into places that you never thought you could get to,” Harriott said. “Pouring into your network and pouring into your community, really being intentional about that is so important.”

After he graduates St. John’s in May 2025, Harriott said he plans to take the bar exam, go on a well-earned vacation and hopefully return to Haynes and Boone as a full-time associate attorney.

2017: KELSI KING, Baldwin

Regardless of the medium, King has a passion for helping people.

King, who graduated from Duke in 2021 with a degree in neuroscience, initially thought she was bound for medical school. However, she decided to pursue health care from a different angle.

“My job changes every day,” King said. “The nice thing is that the end goal is to help clients make better strategic decisions. I’m presented with a problem, and my job is to diagnose the issue, figure out what the key drivers and barriers might be and then come up with an informed perspective to help create clarity where there might not necessarily be any.”

King has worked with ZS — a management consulting firm — for three years following her graduation, and is currently a strategy insights and planning associate consultant.

2018: ALEXANDREA HARRIOTT, Central Islip

From Central Islip to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harriott’s influence is only getting bigger.

In 2022, Harriott graduated from Harvard University with a degree in applied mathematics and global health. She also competed on the Crimson’s rowing team. Since then, she has taken her talents to Charm Economics, where she is the manager of policy and economic analysis.

“I knew that my goal was to find a career where I could really meld together math and policy,” Harriott said. “The way that I saw that coming to fruition was to get a job as an analyst or a data scientist and use numbers in big data to support policy decisions.”

Harriott will begin a masters program in computational analysis and public policy at the University of Chicago this fall, and ultimately hopes to work with the CDC or United Nations to make a global impact.

2019: KENNETH WEI, Mount Sinai

In high school, Wei was the best track athlete in the state. In college, he was the best in the country.

Wei is a three-time national champion with the MIT men’s track and field team, earning the title once in the 110-meter hurdles and twice in long jump. He graduated in 2023 with a degree in bioengineering and is currently pursuing a doctorate from MIT in biomedical engineering.

“There's a lot of very exciting things that you can accomplish at this stage in life,” Wei said. “You're exploring a lot of different options open to you, and it's a mix of finding what you're good at and what you really enjoy. When you find the balance between those two, you can go as far as you can in any sort of field.”

Wei said he plans to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship and eventually lead one of his own.

2020: EMMA WARD, Babylon

Ward’s prowess on the lacrosse field didn’t end at Babylon — it flourished at the next level.

The four-year Syracuse standout concluded her collegiate career in May with 125 goals and 123 assists, despite missing her sophomore season because of a lower leg injury. She was a three-time All-ACC selection and a member of the 2023 IWLCA All-American first team.

“It’s more about what relationships and connections you're able to make and how you're able to affect a young girl's life,” Ward said. “It's really cool that you go to games and little girls tell you they look up to you. I have a lot of gratitude for things like that.”

With a degree in forensic science and technology, Ward said it's her goal to eventually join the FBI. As for lacrosse, Ward said it would be a dream to play on the inaugural U.S. Olympic women’s lacrosse team in 2028.

2021: FAVOUR OKODOGBE, St. John the Baptist

Okodogbe’s life has always moved quickly. Graduating high school at 16 is a prime example.

She is now a rising senior at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) studying computer science, and plans to pursue her master's degree while obtaining a full-time job. Okodogbe has held internships at NASA and JPMorgan Chase, where she is returning for her second summer as a data analyst.

“I really like solving problems,” Okodogbe said. “People go to the data scientist with problems and we are the ones who have to go through data and figure out a solution that can potentially impact the team, the company and the choices that they make.”

Okodogbe said she plans to focus her graduate studies on data science with a concentration in artificial intelligence, with a particular eye on schools like Stanford and Berkeley.

2022: ABIGAIL ROLFE, Port Jefferson

When Rolfe received the Marcus A. Henry Award, she had just completed her historic career with the Port Jefferson baseball team. Rolfe, who became the first female to earn All-County recognition for baseball, is now using her athleticism for something even bigger.

Rolfe, a rising junior, just completed her first year with Ohio University’s chapter of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. She intends to serve in the military for at least four years after graduating.

“Going into my sophomore year of college, I knew this was kind of my last opportunity to try it out before you make that final commitment,” Rolfe said. “I just fell in love with it. I fell in love with the people, the program. I just knew it was something I wanted to be part of my life.”

Outside of her involvement with the ROTC, Rolfe is studying Integrated Sciences and plans to teach high school and coach after her service.

2023: KWASI BONSU, Baldwin

For some, the transition from high school to collegiate athletics can be daunting. For Bonsu, it was enlightening.

“I went from being a big fish in a small pond to being a small fish in an ocean,” Bonsu said. “It’s been so amazing and so exhausting at the same time, but in a good way. Whether it’s in school or wrestling, I’m being challenged by everyone around me. Everything has taken the right amount of energy out of you to the point where you're satisfied at the end.”

Bonsu, a wrestler at Duke, earned the Marcus A. Henry Award for not only his exceptional performance on the Baldwin wrestling mats and football field, but also for his dedication to giving back. At Duke, Bonsu is continuing to do just that.

He is an active member of Duke’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the Black Pre-Law Society. Bonsu intends to continue growing his network as he grows his skills on the mat.