Families, Friends, Corporate Sponsors and Agencies gathered at the Foxon Country House in celebration of 31 young people, the hard working class of 2006 of Leadership Greater New Haven. LGNH is in its 20th year, now under the able direction of Patti Scussel and her Advisory Committee of well seasoned older leaders, chaired by Chamber of Commerce V.P. John Kessler. The young aspirants are nominated, for their participation, by the corporate, not-for-profit, and government sectors,for participation in a 10 month curriculum. Tuition is funded by sponsors, individuals and scholarship.
The class members are introduced to issues and leaders in arts, tourism, communications, policing, local, regional and state government, and institutions and organizations. The participants also work, in teams, on community service projects of their choice; after identifying an issue, they devise and implement a program to address it. This year’s graduates also concerned themselves with the sustainability of their projects. The 2006 initiatives were: Child Safety, Financial Literacy for Young Adults, Image New Haven, and Pediatric Obesity.
The Child Safety team created PAC-IT, a comprehensive information package for parents, incorporating identification by photograph, DNA samples, and other information valuable in law enforcement personnel. The Financial Literacy team created “The Game of Life” and worked with a class at Career H.S. on budgeting and investment protocols. Image New Haven created a video to go with its own New Haven anthem; their work will be utilized by a number of organizations, including Market New Haven. The team concerned with Pediatric Obesity created a successful health fair, featuring health screenings, cooking demonstrations and food tastings, and nutritional counseling. All of the teams solicited their own sources of financial support.
Chris Cavallaro (Waddell and Reed) was selected as the class speaker and Art Randolph (Geenty Group) was selected to represent the Class of ’06 on the Advisory Committee.
For their diligence, each deserves special recognition. LGNH has provided a wonderful new resource to all of the area’s non-profit agencies. It is great for the community to receive these trained, energetic young people to join the ranks. For those who believe in the value of term limits that include volunteer boards of directors, it gives hope
for the future — ¬¶..and, of course, for THE GREATER GOOD!!
Here’s who graduated, in the photo at the top of this article: Sitting: Sherese Ward, Andrea Maldonado. Kneeling:
Donald Moses, Tricia Caldwell, Stan Kontogiannis, Chris Cavallaro, Jose Monteiro, Ed Bonilla. First row standing:
Tyfannie Mack, Michelle Huang, Shirley Ellis-West, Nikki Besitko, Rachel Lombardozzi-Williams, Martha Wright, Bernadette Holodak, Susan Woodall, Carol Bajoros, Stephanie Barnes, Darlene Ashford, (Director) Patti Scussel. Back row standing: Lisa Hansen, Kathleen Krolak, Nick Proto, Norbert Robinson, Garett Luciani, Craig Thomas, Kevin DiAdamo, Kelli Comboni, Anita Steeves, Michelle Wade, Art Randolph, Todd Nicotra.
(P.S. The group has lined up comedians for this year’s Comedy Nite, Thursday, July 20th, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. It will be hosted again by Amarante’s Sea Cliff.)
