Young Leaders Build a Brighter Future
The Schuylkill County Commissioners will convene the third annual Schuylkill County Youth Summit on March 13th at the Penn State Schuylkill campus in Schuylkill Haven. This year’s summit will once again bring together young leaders from all county high schools to engage in making Schuylkill County a better place to live, work, play, and raise their families.
The summit’s mission is to engage, equip and support Schuylkill County youth in designing their own future. This year’s summit will feature advanced technology found at the Penn State campus. Students will be asked to bring their phones and tablets so they can collaborate on projects throughout the day.
Youth Summit team members from Williams Valley High School painted murals to help beautify their community.
The central theme will be how to move forward on the primary issue they had selected to work on at last year’s summit: securing consistent county-wide drivers’ education in every high school in the county. The results of three town hall meetings the students held throughout the county in the fall will be shared, and experts will be available for consultation. Student community projects will also be highlighted.
Schuylkill County’s VISION facilitates the Youth Summit with assistance from a community advisory group that provides resources and guidance.
The Schuylkill County Commissioners launched the annual summit as a way to listen carefully to what the youth of the county consider to be the issues that impact them most. A survey of 4,000 high school students conducted in late 2012 revealed that their concerns encompass three areas: quality of life, jobs and public safety. To date, each summit has addressed these three areas.
Kay Jones of Schuylkill County’s VISION.
“We looked at models for the summit and could not find one that fit, so we worked with groups of students and community members to design a process that gives young people the power to act on their concerns and teaches them about real life community development,” said Kay Jones, Executive Director of Schuylkill County’s VISION.
Currently, Youth Summit Teams at every county high school are working within their own communities on the following projects.
Blue Mountain
Students will host clothing and food drives, and community fundraisers. Donations will be distributed to local churches.
Gillingham Charter School
Students plan to improve upon on a social media campaign they launched in 2013. The goal is to promote local events through the Schuylkill Youth Facebook page.
Mahanoy Area
Students expanded upon their 2013 town cleanup, held in association with Mahanoy City’s sesquicentennial, by bolstering the town’s annual Community Day, held in conjunction with the July 4th holiday. In 2014—through dress-down days, canvassing and other fundraisers—the team raised enough funds to bring a fireworks display back to the borough following a seven-year hiatus. The team included Darryl Andreas, Tyler Cavenas, Nolan Fegley, Kimberly Loughlin, and Greg Merchlinsky, with Principal Thomas Smith as advisor.
Marian Catholic
Students are repairing the damaged baseball field and plan to host a tournament when their project is complete.
Minersville Area
Students hosted a food drive competition among the four high school classes and faculty to benefit local food pantries. The winning team garnered a dress down day.
Nativity BVM
Students held a canned food drive during the holiday season in association with the Pottsville Business Association’s “Because We Care…” program. The collected food items were donated to those in need in our local community. Participating in the program are VISION representatives L-R: Felicia Wranitz, senior; Jocelyn Holobetz, Junior; Chloe Prezelski, Sophomore; Travis Hunyara, Junior; Kayla Prezelski, Senior; Noelle Steele, Sophomore.
Mike Zangeri of North Schuylkill.
North Schuylkill
Students gave up a day off of school and to help some elderly people in the area. The team spent eight hours raking and bagging leaves in Frackville and Ringtown, collecting more than 80 garbage bags filled with leaves.
Pine Grove Area
Students planned to improve their school’s stadium.
Pottsville Area
Students will be organizing a presentation for elementary grades explaining the modern dangers of drug and alcohol use.
Schuylkill Haven
Students are teaching third graders about safety matters such as fire and kitchen safety, stranger danger and street smarts.
Schuylkill Technology Center South and North
The South Campus will once again host the Schuylkill County Clean-up Competition. During this event, each school district sends one, 10-student team to clean an area of excessive litter such as an illegal dumping site or simply along a road within their district. The teams and advisors are invited to an awards luncheon held at STC South where they will receive free giveaways, have a chance to win prizes, and possibly win the competition and a trophy made from recycled materials to be kept proudly by their school until next year’s competition. This event will be held in coordination with SKIP’s annual spring cleanup.
Shenandoah Valley
Held a Christmas wreath sale and pet supply drive to benefit Hillside SPCA. They raised more than $1,000 for the cause. Previously, students sold t-shirts and raised $3,000 for teacher Annmarie Carter, who had been diagnosed with bone cancer and a brain tumor. Carter has since passed away and the money raised was used for a memorial and a donation to the American Brain Tumor Association in her honor.
Tamaqua Area
Students are planning a career day with local presenters representing a variety of professions in order to help peers learn more about postsecondary options. Participating students include seniors Jacob Gursky and Julia Reinert, Tamaqua; juniors Trevor Schilling and Kassandra Wuttke, Andreas; and sophomores Stephen Oravec, Andreas, and Grace Seibel, Tamaqua.
Tri-Valley
Students helped to organize Community Awareness Night in October, sponsored by the Tri-Valley Elementary Schools. They also participated by hosting a coloring contest during the event for elementary students. The coloring sheet included ways to be a good friend to others. Elementary Guidance Counselor, Nicole Polosky, has organized Community Awareness Night for several years, but it was moved to the high school this year and will remain there next year. Team members included: seniors Kaitlin Neumeister, Ashland; Mark Schlegel, Valley View; juniors Brianne and Amanda Pacenta, Ashland; and sophomores Elise Laudenslager and Haley Stehr, both of Pitman.
Williams Valley
During the summers of 2013 and 2014, this team—assisted by students from the junior-senior high school—collaborated with the Williamstown Redevelopment Organization (WDO) and the Porter-Tower Recreation Committee to paint murals to help to beautify communities within the Williams Valley area. The first mural was painted at the Williamstown Community Park on the building that houses restrooms. Upon completion, the team volunteered their time at the annual Block Party where they unveiled the mural and led activities with younger children.
In June of 2014, the team completed a similar project at the Porter-Tower Community Pool, painting a beach scene on the 135-foot wall of the bathhouse. This mural was officially unveiled when the team hosted a Splash Party for the community.
Both projects were supported by $500 grants through Schuylkill County’s VISION, and by matching funds earned through students’ volunteering for WDO and the Porter-Tower Recreation Committee.
Team members included: Roofina and Faizon Ali, Ashley Carl, Samantha Mione, Rachael Reiner, Stephen Schlegel, and Katelyn Vega, all of Tower City; Ashley Machamer, of Wiconisco; and Serenity Hoke, Kassandra Jones, Brandy Kennedy, Lindy Kraska, Alyssa Raho, and Ronald Reedy, all of Williamstown.