Essex Tech Announces 2020 Larkin Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Tickets Still Available for Purchase for Remote Homecoming Gala

HATHORNE— Superintendent Heidi Riccio is pleased to announce that Brian Cranney has been named the 2020 Larkin Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

Cranney will be honored at the remote Homecoming Gala on Friday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m. Tickets to the Gala are still available for purchase online and cost $25 per person.

A virtual auction is also being held in conjunction with the gala and is currently live, featuring items created by students in Essex Tech’s technical programs. To view or participate in the auction, click here.

Sen. Joan B. Lovely will give the opening remarks for the Gala and Sen. Bruce Tarr will give a special tribute to Rep. Ted Speliotis for his long-standing support of vocational and agricultural education on the North Shore.

Cranney is the president of the Cranney Home Services, which provides plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical services residential homes and businesses. His company is one of over 80 working with Essex Tech students for their co-op program, and he currently employs many Essex Tech alumni.

In 2005, Cranney helped found the electrical program at the former North Shore Tech and continues to support Essex North Shore as a member of the Electrical Program, General Advisory Committees, and the Essex Tech Foundation. He was a building committee member during the merger of Essex Agricultural and North Shore Technical School and instrumental in the opening of the plumbing and HVAC-R programs.

The Larkin Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes members of the Essex Tech community and its past iterations, including Essex Agricultural and Technical High School, North Shore Technical High School and Peabody Vocational School, who have demonstrated a commitment to and achievement within the local vocational and/or agricultural industries.

“Congratulations to Brian on this well-deserved recognition,” Superintendent Riccio said. “As a graduate of the Salem High School electrical program, his passion for the trades is infectious. Brian has been a dedicated and supportive community partner for Essex Tech and other vocational programs on the north shore, helping to train students working with his company in our co-op program to be skilled workers in these high-demand careers.”

The Larkin Lifetime Achievement Award is named after Lt. Catherine Larkin, an alumni of the Essex County Agricultural School homemaking program and World War II nurse who died in a plane crash in 1945. The Larkin Memorial Cottage, currently being rebuilt into a multi-use facility, including a historical museum, service kitchen, office space, an exhibit hall, a learning lab and function space, was originally built in 1950 and named after Larkin.

The first Larkin Lifetime Achievement Awards were given at last year’s Homecoming Gala, which raised approximately $68,000 to support the current Larkin Memorial Cottage building project. Last year’s recipients were Essex Aggie Alumni Bob Woods, owner of Wood Trucking, and Ted Dunjnaski, owner of Dunjnaski Dairy.

To learn more about last year’s awards, click here.

Thus far, Essex Tech has received approximately $158,000 in donations to support the building project, which is also being partially funded by a Cummings Foundation grant awarded in 2019 to support various student projects at the school. The foundation awarded the school approximately $100,000 in funds, divided over three years, to provide carpentry, masonry, electrical, plumbing and heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) and refrigeration students with the opportunity to gain authentic work experiences through building projects on campus.

Students from various disciplines at the school are working on the Larkin Memorial Cottage building project, including students studying carpentry, masonry, electrical, plumbing, construction craft labor, landscaping, and natural resources. The foundation of the new building is currently being completed.

To learn more about the Larkin Memorial Cottage project and/or to donate, click here.

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