By Gina Greco
Town of Webb senior Daniel Stefanko, 17, grew up in Old Forge and has lived here all his life.
After graduation, he plans to take a year or two off from school. He said he will work with his father, who owns an electrical business in the area. In the future, he said he hopes to take over the business.
Daniel’s favorite class is his electrical class at Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES).
The teacher of the class, Mr. Rehley, is his favorite teacher.
Daniel plays on the Webb Varsity Golf team.
Till this year he has played the trumpet in the school band, having started in fourth grade, he said.
Daniel was a part of the stage crew for the school plays for the past two years. “I really enjoyed it,” he said.
He is a member of the Robotics club, which is a club that works with small electronics and designs and assembles robots.
Outside of school, Daniel is the co-founder of the HSAC, a third party student rights organization.
“I run [the organization] with Casey Hamlin,” he said.
He has been involved for over two years.
“We attend every Board of Education meeting. We are working towards implementing some policies at school right now,” he said.
“We started it up orginally because our band teacher was forcefully resigned for reasons unknown, so we went to the board meeting. Casey and I decided that the students need a little bit more of a voice than just the Student Council,” he said.
“We are a third party. We’re not associated with the school, so we can do a lot more than the students can with different issues.”
Daniel’s other extra curricular activities include many different types of electrical work.
He said his favorite music is classic rock.
His parents are Diane and Joseph Stefanko.
Diane runs the Blue Spruce Motel in Old Forge and also works for Home Aide Service of the Central Adirondacks (HASCA). Joseph owns and operates Stefanko Electric Inc.
Daniel has an older brother, Michael Wheeler, 25, who is a landscape architect.
“My father and my teacher [Mr. Rehley] are my biggest influences,” he said. “They both have taught me a lot, and my father got me interested in electrical work.”
This summer Daniel plans to work with his father and at the Enchanted Forest Water Safari in Old Forge as a parking attendant.
“I will be staying in the area, but I will miss my friends when they go off to college,” he said.
He said he is looking forward to graduation.“I want to be able to start the next part of my life,” he said.