Way to Go! Jill Lawrence, Hauppauge High
Jill Lawrence organized a fundraising tennis tournament for Hauppauge High School varsity players, alumni and teachers. Credit: Lawrence family
A Hauppauge student with a love of tennis is using the sport to serve up assistance for children with developmental disabilities.
Jill Lawrence, a sophomore at Hauppauge High School, raised $1,200 last year though a first-time tennis tournament, called “Tennis Serves the Community,” to benefit the Developmental Disabilities Institute in Smithtown. A second tennis fundraiser will be held in May.
The round-robin tournament will consist of teachers, varsity tennis players and alumni matching up against each other. Funds are raised via donations and tournament entry fees.
“I wanted to find a way to combine my love of tennis with doing something for the community,” said Lawrence, 15, who is captain of her school’s varsity team. “It was a small idea in the beginning, but then it really took off.”
The tennis-loving teen said she chose to benefit the Developmental Disabilities Institute since one of her tennis teammates has an autistic brother and a father who is a member of the nonprofit’s board of directors. She has already raised roughly $350 for this year’s fundraiser through a bake sale that she held during a recent wrestling match at the school.
Lawrence, who joined her high school’s tennis team as a seventh-grader, was named to this year’s All-Division team and has been her team’s MVP for the past three seasons. She has also participated in several dozen tournaments through the U.S. Tennis Association.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
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