Recently, at the general meeting of the legislature, Legislator Stephanie Bontempi (R – 18th L.D.) presented Kaitlyn Ruiter with the very first Suffolk County Outstanding Youth in the Arts Award. Bontempi and her colleagues signed the proclamation commemorating the first-ever event, and its presentation was witnessed by Kaitlyn’s family along with Michael Sussino, her former orchestra director at Northport High School.
The occasion inspiring the County award’s creation and reason for Kaitlyn receivingit was her winning of a Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.The Grammy Award-winning album to which she contributed was entitled, “Works by Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery, Valerie Coleman.” Bontempi had also presented Kaitlin with a standalone proclamation late last year after being named a Grammy nominee.
“We were so impressed by Kaitlyn's accomplishment - winning a Grammy - that we knew we had to create a special award worthy of the accomplishment,” said Bontempi. “We also thought that an award should be at the ready for future youths of this caliber.”
Kaitlyn is currently a student at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is studying bass performance and actuarial science.