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Westhampton Beach Senior Selects Coast Guard

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Aiming to serve the United States while receiving a great education, Westhampton Beach High School senior Emily Arpino has enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

“The missions of the Coast Guard are humanitarian, so after graduating, I will be able to contribute to saving lives, making our country’s bodies of water safer and protecting the nation,” said Arpino.

She is set to report on July 8.

Arpino was an active, well-rounded member of her high school community. She was on the varsity cheerleading team and was voted captain for the fall and winter seasons her senior year. She was also a competitive baton twirler. In addition, she dedicated much of her time to her school’s music department and, as a flutist, was named an alternate for the New York State School Music Association All-State Band in 2018.

Arpino’s interest in humanitarian work was evidenced by her philanthropic pursuits in high school. In her junior year, she started a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness and raised over $4,000 for LI2Day by selling pink cheer bows to teams across Long Island. Through Rustic Pathways, a student travel program, she traveled to Costa Rica and Peru for community service purposes. She worked on a turtle conservation project at the Camaronal Wildlife Refuge in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, and assisted with a clean water project in the Sacred Valley in Peru.

In addition, Arpino was a religious education teacher for middle schoolers and part of the Immaculate Conception Youth Leadership Ministry.

“Through all these activities, I have gained leadership experience, which will carry into my career as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard,” she said.