Ten Westchester high school seniors, who have shown exceptional commitment to their local communities of Mamaroneck, Scarsdale, Rye Neck, Pleasantville, Irvington, Yonkers, Mount Vernon and Blind Book, have been selected as recipients of the Westchester County Youth Board’s 2010 Milly Kibrick Youth Service Awards.
The group was honored Wednesday, Oct. 20, at an event at the Davenport Club in New Rochelle.
The Milly Kibrick Youth Service Awards are given in memory of Milly Kibrick, a prominent county social worker and youth activist, who dedicated her life to helping underprivileged children. During her career and in retirement, she was the quintessential social worker, social entrepreneur, volunteer and political activist, pursuing social and economic justice for children of all ages.
“These extraordinary young men and women of the high school class of 2011 have emulated Milly Kibrick through their work in their communities and have touched the lives of many individuals,” said County Executive Robert P. Astorino. “They set an example for their peers.”
The aim of the Youth Board’s awards program is to recognize high school seniors of the Class of 2011 who have been involved in building a flourishing, strong and compassionate community through individual efforts and actions.
Mishel Alarcon lives in Bedford Hills and attends Fox Lane High School.
As an active member of the Minority Student Achievement Network, Mishel was one of nine Fox Lane High School students selected to attend the national MSAN Student Conference. Mishel has arranged for her MSAN group to tutor at Neighbor’s Link, an organization that supports the Latino community. She has met with the Board of Education and has been a strong advocate for the school district to address the achievement gap of minority students. She began this advocacy work as a student in the Middle School.
Mishel has been a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester for 12 years, where she is leader of the Keystone Club. She volunteers at the Club on a regular basis, tutoring members in the Fun Club After School Program. Mishel has participated in Midnight Run, soup kitchens, senior citizen proms, charity walks, fundraising for Haiti and more. She was selected to be a part of Northern Westchester Hospital’s President’s Junior Leadership Council.
Carly Carlin lives in Scarsdale and attends Scarsdale High School.
Carly has taught dance and mentored a group of girls for five years in the “Amazing Afternoons” after-school program at the Edward Williams Elementary School in Mount Vernon. Carly is president of the Free the Children Club at Scarsdale High School and organized a community tag sale last year where she helped raised $2,000 for clean water projects in Kenya. This year’s proceeds will go to helping Haiti. Last summer, Carly went to Kenya with Free the Children and helped build a new school. This past summer, Carly continued her community development projects by traveling to Swaziland, a tiny, landlocked country in Africa.
Carly is also president of the Make It Green Club at Scarsdale High School and organized a Recycled Shoe Drive, turning old shoes into new ones, which involved all the schools in Scarsdale. Make It Green plans to purchase solar panels for the high school this year. In addition, Carly has participated in the Green Schools Coalition of Westchester where high school students share ideas about making their schools more sustainable.
Christine Cook lives in Mamaroneck and attends Rye Neck High School.
She has exhibited an extraordinary and diverse interest in community service. One fulfilling activity is when Christine brings her dog, who is certified as a therapy dog, to local nursing homes and assisted living facilities. There, Christine keeps the senior citizens company while her dog, Angie, brings happiness to the patients through her charismatic personality. Christine participates in Midnight Run and has twice participated in the Locks of Love program, cutting off six inches of her hair to donate to cancer patients.
Christine also plays a major role in her school's Key Club. She was secretary last year and is president this year and has also helped collect donations for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, March of Dimes and various other charities. Three times in the past four years, she has participated in the Alzheimer's Memory Walk. During her junior year, Christine was a tutor in algebra and geometry at her high school. She assisted a freshman in preparing for the Regents’ exam at the end of the year. In addition, she teaches senior citizens how to use computers at the local library.
Malachi Davis lives in Pleasantville and attends Pleasantville High School.
In ninth grade, Malachi was asked to be a leader in a socialization group for boys through the psychology department. He provided a solid role model for the students, helping them with issues they faced throughout the year. Malachi has attended his local Rotary Club weekend Leadership Training after having been selected for the Rotary Youth Leadership Award. He is also involved in the school’s community service club, Encouraging Children to Help Others, serving as president. For the last two years, he has been a regular after-school tutor at the public library, where he helps students who range in age from kindergarten to eighth grade.
Malachi is president of the Junior Leadership Council at the Northern Westchester Hospital, where he acts as a liaison and serves as a ‘voice’ between community youth and the hospital administration and staff. He also assists in community outreach efforts, and in providing prevention and wellness programs within local schools and at community- based organizations. He also has had the opportunity to experience and explore career possibilities in health and medicine.
Katie Doong lives in Mamaroneck and attends Rye Neck High School.
Katie is part of the Students Awareness Coalition (SAC), a club dedicated to spreading awareness and raising funds for pressing local and international human rights and poverty issues. With SAC, Katie has volunteered at the local Hope's Door, a shelter for families affected by domestic violence.
In addition, Katie volunteers in several clubs at her school that create opportunities for students to help their community. She is involved with the Key Club, was a peer leader assisting eighth-grade students transition to high school and helped as an athletic trainer where she assisted with necessary paperwork before the season began. She helped paint fire hydrants as part of a friend’s Eagle Scout Service Project and taught girls different aspects and skills in various softball clinics. Katie is also part of her school's Midnight Run, which is an organization that provides food and clothing to the homeless in New York City, and was secretary of the club, Students Against Drunk Driving.
Karanja Elliott lives in Mt. Kisco and attends Fox Lane High School.
Karanja has been a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester for 12 years, where he is admired by the staff and his peers. Karanja volunteered in the after-school program at the club. He showed such extraordinary talent as a care giver that he was promoted to junior staff. He acts as a big brother, advisor, leader and mentor. He keeps the children active, helps them with homework and shares his terrific sense of humor and artistic and athletic talents. Karanja is particularly good at working with the children who are angry, alone or socially isolated. He can relate to these children and has a special bond with them.
As a member of the Keystone Club, Karanja has dedicated many hours of service to the club and community. He participates in senior citizen events and food and clothing drives for local shelters. He has volunteered in a soup kitchen and helped with fund- raisers for Haiti and children with AIDS in Africa. Once a child who hated school, Karanja now dreams of attending college. He knows that hard work, determination and a college education will open doors. He is on track to graduate with an Advanced Regents diploma. He is a talented artist and athlete. He is described by his school counselor as “a peacemaker and places his own needs aside to help others achieve.”
Isabel (Izzy) Garcia lives in Irvington and attends Irvington High School.
Izzy sits as the student liaison on many village committees such as the Community Advisory Board and the SITE Committee. Her purpose is to help improve her community by giving it a student’s perspective.
Izzy also feels a strong connection to a community thousands of miles away: Masaya, Nicaragua. In February she went with nine students from Irvington High School to Nicaragua with "Bridges to Community," a non-profit agency. Izzy raised the $2,000 trip fee by spending countless hours at a local church, basketball games, talking to friends and relatives and others at community events. She and other volunteers spent eight days building a house for a young couple and their daughter. Izzy encourages everyone to get involved with some kind of community service. After any community service project, Izzy never says she “helped” someone, but rather she says she “supported” him or her in what they are doing.
Layla Vazquez lives in Yonkers and attends Saunders Trades and Technical High School. Layla often encourages her peers to live drug-free and alcohol-free. During the 2009 fall semester, Layla brought a volunteer initiative to the student government’s attention, the AFYA Foundation. The AFYA Foundation recovers needed medical supplies/equipment and ships them to third world countries such as Malawi, Bolivia, Ghana and the Dominican Republic, among others. The warehouse that stores the materials is located near her high school, and Layla organized efforts of students to sort, package and load the materials on to the containers for shipping.
Layla has also volunteered for walks to raise money on behalf of several causes including breast cancer, Alzheimer’s and My Sister’s Place. She voices her opinion when she believes things are not fair or just and will seek the appropriate faculty member to confer.
Mark Vavolizza lives in Rye Brook and attends Blind Brook High School.
Mark has focused much of his time in high school on community service. As a sophomore, Mark began volunteering with the Miracle League of Westchester, playing baseball on Sunday mornings with special needs children. His passion for these children led him to a Honor’s Science Research Program and helped him to aspire to a career in medicine.
Mark will continue his work this year as part of the Westchester Youth Council. In March, he attended the Youth Action Convention at Pace University and made a presentation on autism and how to best work with and accept people who are affected by the disorder. In April, he visited Albany and met with legislators to lobby for stricter gun control laws.
Mark spent his junior year serving as president of the Reaching Out to Provide Enrichment (ROPE) Club at his school, an organization he help to found. ROPE creates opportunities for students at the high school to build a “big brother” relationship with less advantaged children in local communities. The club also provides “hands on” volunteer opportunities by engaging BBHS students in fundraisers to sponsor a variety of social activities with children from the Carver Center in Port Chester. The club has donated some 6,000 canned goods to a soup kitchen with the generous support of the school and community.
As vice president of Congress for his school, Mark will spend his senior year meeting with peers, teachers, parents and administrators working on key issues for the student body. He is also part of the school-based Shared Decision Making Team. Mark has spent his last two years in Congress and part of his senior year in the Leadership Seminar Class, working on bringing a peer leadership program back to his high school. He hopes to assist in directing the committee to implement a pilot program by mid-year.
Michelle Wexler lives in Scarsdale and attends Scarsdale High School.
Since the eighth grade, Michelle has been involved with J-Teen Leadership, a teen-led and organized Jewish community service and leadership development group for high school students. Michelle was a co-founder of the Lower Westchester J-Teen Leadership Circle and now serves as its co-chair. With J-Teen, Michelle traveled to New Orleans and Baton Rouge in 2007 and 2008 for Hurricane Katrina relief. She considers these trips life-changing experiences. J-Teen has also allowed Michelle to make a difference in her local community, participating in numerous activities, such as holiday parties for children living in residential treatment facilities; volunteering with Habitat for Humanity; and packing and sorting food at various locations including the Food Bank for Westchester. She has also worked in the AFYA warehouse (located in Yonkers) to help send medical supplies to Haiti and Africa.
Michelle also served as co-chair of Westchester’s J-Serve, an international day of Jewish youth service, for J-Teen, at the Edenwald Center at Pleasantville Cottage School. In that capacity, she organized a carnival, sports events and special activities for displaced teens with emotional difficulties and learning disabilities.
At Scarsdale High School, Michelle is a Civ Ed Advisor to a group of freshmen. The goals of Civ Ed include helping the freshmen acclimate to the high school as well as creating an environment where people can be themselves, try new things, and open up to new people. Michelle also participates in the school’s Human Rights Club and serves on the Scarsdale Advisory Council on Youth where she gives the council a teen perspective on a variety of different issues.