1996 Members at the end of a long weekend at Camp Jewell!
Valley United Way's Youth Leadership Program completed its activities for the year with its annual Murder Mystery Fund Raiser and the recruitment of new members for the 1997-1998 Program year. They also hosted a reception for members of the Youth Leadership Alumni. The Program is being partially funded by a grant from the Katherine Matthies Foundation and by money raised from Valley United Way's Annual Kickoff Road Race and Fun Walk.
Six of the members from 1995-1996 were members during 1994-1995. These include Aisha Barnes, Rebecca Barry, Sarah Beard, and Michelle Silva from Shelton High School and Gina Rochelle and Karl Trybus from Seymour High School.
First year members are John Mastrianni, Jr., Evan Mastrianni, Danielle Rodriquez, and Allen Sabins from Emmett O'Brien Regional Vocational Technical High School; Amanda Miller and Justin Morgatto from Seymour High School; Ambika Shenoy from Shelton High School; Maria DiCenso, Taeyoon Kim, and Sarah Najda from Derby High School; and Kristen McFarland, Jaime Pawluk, and Julianna Perrelli from Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden.
"The Program Year began on April 9, 1996 when all of the members and their parents attended a Member/Parent Reception," according to Dr. Vincent Palacino, Jr., Valley United Way Assistant Director and Youth Leadership Program Staff. "The Reception gave everyone the opportunity to meet each other and the parents had a chance to meet me and hear more about the Program."
"We also take the opportunity, at the Reception, to recognize and thank the Program members who are graduated from high school in the spring and, therefore, were not eligible to continue in the Program," Palacino added. "The seniors were a special part of the Program. Most of them," he continued, "had been with the Program for a couple of years. They took on the role of mentor and model for the members who were in their first year in the Program and helped them become part of the team."
"This has been another busy year for the Program and the students have had a full agenda of programming, " according to Palacino. "These included the annual "Teambuilding Retreat" at the Hartford YMCA's Camp Jewell in Colebrook. At the Retreat, a `mini-Outward Bound' experience, the members developed as a team. During the course of the weekend the students elected their officers for the year."
"The members have also been busy with their own fundraisers again this year," he continued. "They are currently selling the Entertainment `97 Books and will hold their `3rd Annual Murder Mystery Dinner' during the winter. They have also completed their annual needs assessment to identify critical needs in the Valley for teens and developed a Request For Proposals to nearly 100 organizations in the Valley based upon those identified needs. Members then evaluated the requests and made several small venture grants to those organizations whose proposals were determined to be consistent with the needs that they had identified and were worthy of funding. Over the past five years, the members have made grants totaling nearly $20,000."
Valley United Way