Number of Participants: 1
Hours Donated: 100
Value of Time Served: $845
Event Type: Civic & Community
Sport: Softball
Date: June 23, 2023
Location:
Bayport Blue Point High School
Snedecor Avenue, Bayport
NY
About:
Life is all about lending a helping hand and making an impact on the lives of others for Erin McMahon.
She will attend Dickinson College in the fall, majoring in neuroscience on the pre-med track. She aspires to become a pediatric neurologist.
“I want to touch the lives of as many people as I can,” McMahon said. “I want to work where the most help is needed and be someone that everyone can count on.”
Life is busy for Bayport-Blue Point’s salutatorian. It is time consuming to put in the work to earn a weighted GPA of 102.69 and take 10 advanced placement exams, but McMahon finds the time to make a difference in her community.
She volunteers with Challenger Athletics, where she teaches and plays basketball with children with disabilities.
“My mom is a special education teacher, so I’ve always been taught that people with learning disabilities want to be treated the same as you,” McMahon said. “When I heard the organization teaches basketball, which is a sport I love to play, I jumped at the opportunity.”
She is also a member of the peanut butter and jelly club, where she makes sandwiches and delivers them to a church for the homeless.
“In all the activities I do, I can see the positive effects that it’s having on people,” McMahon said. “It may just be an hour or two out of your day, but you can be making someone’s entire week.”
McMahon has helped raise money to send supplies to war-torn Ukraine, participated in beach cleanups and breast cancer walks. She is a member of the music honor society where she plays the flute in Bayport’s Symphonic Band and volunteers to help for various music and art shows.
Her on-field exploits are just as impressive. After suffering a stress fracture in her back during the basketball season of her junior year which caused her to miss the softball season, she made a successful return to the field her senior season.
McMahon had a 1.70 ERA, struck out 171 and hit .520 with 40 RBIs as she led the Phantoms to county and Long Island championships. She tossed 12 innings and drove in a run in the Long Island class A final against MacArthur.
“I’ve never seen someone that works so hard in everything that she does,” Bayport-Blue Point softball coach Nicholle Marchetta said. “To be the salutatorian and put in all the extra time with everything she has going on, it’s unbelievable.”
– Chris Matias