Cole McMahon award winner announced

Dylan Socha-Kachik (kneeling, center) is this year’s recipient of the annual Cole McMahon memorial “Heart of Gold” award. Also pictured are (kneeling, from left) Bill Heber, Scott Stahl, (standing, from left) Matt Miller, Matt Dickinson, Dolly McMahon, Lois Socha and Stephanie Dickinson. (Submitted photo)

From staff reports

Dylan Socha-Kachik, a junior at Oil City High School, is this year’s recipient of the annual Cole McMahon memorial “Heart of Gold” award.

The award is presented every year to an Oil City junior in honor of McMahon, a 2001 Oil City graduate who was killed in a car accident in October 2006 while on his way to his teaching assignment at Fort Leboeuf High School in Waterford.

McMahon’s parents, Malachy and Dolly McMahon, work with Oil City teachers and administrators every year to choose the winner of the award. The student who is picked best demonstrates the hard work and dedication that Cole Mcmahon possessed, according to the criteria for the award.

Socha-Kachik will receive a free one-year membership to the Oil City YMCA and have his name placed on the “Heart of Gold” plaque on display at the YMCA.

Bryan Schwab, a health and physical education teacher at Hasson Heights Elementary School in Oil City, initiated the award with help from Butch Huey, Pat Madden and Harry Dilley Jr.