By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
Mark Consorte was feted as West Haven’s Italian American of the Year at the Greater New Haven Italian American Heritage Festival on the city’s historic Green on Saturday.
Consorte, a longtime social studies teacher and department head at West Haven High School, served double duty as the festival’s grand marshal and the city’s top Italian.
West Haven served as this year’s host community of the festival, which celebrated the region’s deep-rooted Italian heritage with food trucks, live music, children’s activities and craft vendors.
The four-hour cultural event was presented by the Greater New Haven Italian American Heritage Committee.
To coincide with the free festival, the West Haven Italian Heritage Committee honored Consorte at its 25th annual Italian Heritage Celebration, the first time the city combined the celebration with another event.
West Haven Funeral Home owner Celia Pinzi received the Greater New Haven committee’s Laura Luzzi Community Award for outstanding public service.
Pinzi is a successful woman entrepreneur who is well known for supporting the region’s civic and cultural life.
Consorte and Pinzi are lifelong Westies and third- and second-generation Italian Americans, respectively.
Mayor Dorinda Borer, who tapped Consorte for grand marshal and Italian American of the Year, said: “Mark is a great representative of what the Italian culture stands for: kindness, charitable and family-oriented. As a longtime teacher, he’s mentored thousands of students with his knowledge and passion and additionally has volunteered toward organizations across our city.”
Borer added: “Celia has been there for so many of us, myself included, and I felt it was important to recognize a wonderful person who silently stays behind the scenes and doesn’t look for recognition but provides great comfort and support to our residents. Celia always steps up and generously participates in our nonprofits, lifting up the community.”
In addition to West Haven, the host community rotates annually among New Haven, North Haven, Branford, East Haven and Hamden, the host of last year’s festival.
West Haven last hosted the “six-town event,” which was a parade before transitioning to a festival, in 2017. The city also hosted in 2011 and 2006.
According to organizers, the committee transitioned the parade to a festival to allow for wider participation.
The Italian American of the Year distinction runs deep in Consorte’s family. His father, the late Joseph F. Consorte Sr., received the award in 2013, and his uncle Frank Consorte received the honor in 2007.
“Representing the Italian American community in the city of West Haven is the honor of a lifetime,” said Consorte, who received the Community Service Award in 2018 from the Sylvester Z. Poli Lodge 2832 Order Sons & Daughters of Italy in America. “I am truly humbled by this recognition.”
The Italian American of the Year award is bestowed annually on an Italian resident or couple who personifies service in the West Haven’s close-knit Italian community.
Consorte, 54, received an embroidered “Italian American of the Year 2024” jacket and a citation from Borer for his public-spirited contributions and volunteerism.
The city’s “primo italiano” also received an Italian flag from Paul M. Frosolone, the president of the West Haven Italian American Civic Association, and Lisa Aguzzi, the president of the association’s Ladies Auxiliary.
The celebration included remarks by Borer and her chief of staff, Rick Spreyer, the master of ceremonies. Before an Italian blessing by Vertical Church Outreach Pastor Paul Bronson, West Haven’s own Liz Levy sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the Italian national anthem, “II Canto degli Italiani.”
At West Haven High, Consorte has served as the Advanced Placement U.S. government and politics teacher since 1996 and the social studies department head since 2001.
He is the faculty adviser for student government and the debate team and is the summer school director.
He is a member of the school’s Honors Committee and the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies.
A self-described “lifelong baseball player,” Consorte has coached at the college, high school and youth levels and is a longtime board member and former player of the West Haven Twilight League, one of the oldest amateur wooden bat baseball leagues in the U.S. He received the league’s Gold Bat Award in 2022.
Consorte was a player-coach on the league’s Peschell’s Bakery team that won the 2003 National Amateur Baseball Federation championship in Louisville, Kentucky.
He will be inducted into the Southern Connecticut Diamond Club’s Hall of Fame on Oct. 23.
“Being a teacher and coach in this great city for many years has been an absolute privilege,” Consorte said. “I want to thank Mayor Dorinda Borer, Paul Frosolone and all members of the committee.
“I am well aware that I was chosen in part because of my family members who came before me. My brothers, Paul, Joe and Chris, my parents, Joe and Dolores, my uncles, Frank and Lou, and my grandparents, Matteo and Antonette, all served this city in a variety of ways. They were all tremendous role models who showed me the importance of giving back to the community.”
In observance of Italian American Heritage Month, West Haven recognizes the unique and vibrant traditions of Americans of Italian descent and celebrates the story of generations of Italian sons and daughters who came to the United States seeking hope and opportunity to reach for the American dream.
Mark Consorte’s paternal grandfather, Matteo Consorte, left his home in the Campania town of Atrani in the province of Salerno, Italy, and came to America in 1905 for a new beginning and a brighter tomorrow.
In the daring spirit of Italians who charted a course for millions of immigrants who followed their crossing to America, Consorte and his grandfather are a testament to the diversity and promise of the United States.
Consorte and his older brothers were raised by their hardworking Italian father and mother, the former Dolores Bango, in a single-family home on High Meadow Lane in West Shore.
Consorte’s father, along with his uncles Frank and Louis Consorte, owned West End Market, a West Haven institution nestled in two neighborhood locales for more than six decades. His mother worked part time while raising her sons.
The mom and pop grocery operated at Main Street and Kelsey Avenue from 1932 to 1951 and then for 45 years at Wagner Place and Elm Street before closing in 1996.
Consorte is a 1988 graduate of Notre Dame High School of West Haven, where he played basketball and captained the baseball team to the 1988 All Connecticut Conference title. He received the Sullivan Award for good sportsmanship on the baseball diamond and was named first-team All-State and All-ACC in 1988.
Later at his alma mater, he served as an assistant coach of the baseball, basketball and golf teams.
In 1992, Consorte graduated with a bachelor’s degree in government from Wesleyan University, where he captained the baseball team to two Little Three championships and the 1992 Eastern College Athletic Conference New England Division 3 title. He received the McNaughten Award for baseball excellence in 1992 and was inducted into the team’s Wall of Fame in 2015.
He is Wesleyan’s reigning home run leader.
Consorte received a master’s degree in education from the University of New Haven in 1998 and a sixth-year diploma in educational administration from Southern Connecticut State University in 2001.
He is a member of the Knights of Columbus Father Curtin Council 2541 and has coached several youth baseball and basketball teams.
Consorte and his wife of 25 years, the former Carla Hugli, have twin sons, Michael and Matthew Consorte, 22, and live in West Shore.