Wilton High School graduate Dalton DiCamillo was awarded the Wilton Historical Society’s 2020 Walter R. T. Smith Memorial Scholarship at the virtual June 8 Wilton High School Awards Ceremony.
“Dalton has been a great asset to the Society throughout his high school years. His love of hands-on history was matched by his ability to engage children in our programs,” said the society’s co-director Kim Mellin. “In 2019 Dalton planned all of the activities for one of our most popular events, the end-of-year Mad Hatter Tea Party. We have been lucky to have had such a multi-talented volunteer in Dalton.”
The scholarship honors the memory of tool collector extraordinaire Walter R. T. Smith (1922–2015) who was a two-term president and emeritus trustee of the Wilton Historical Society, master builder, building historian, and preservationist.
DiCamillo began volunteering for the Historical Society during his freshman year. He worked primarily with the museum educator and was a faithful volunteer at Saturday children’s workshops. Those programs ranged over a gamut of hands-on history activities, from Colonial cookery to bookbinding, candle-making, writing with quills, basketry, woodworking, trade signs, Ghost Night, Colonial Boot Camp during the summer, and much more. Assisting customers in the Betts Store Museum Shop, providing support during special events such as the American Artisan Show, and posting events on social media were more ways in which he made a difference at the Historical Society with his volunteering.
DiCamillo plans to attend the University of Connecticut this fall, where his intended focus is biomedical engineering.