2013 American Youth Leadership Program – Paraguay Ari Comart (Mentor)
Ari is a teacher in Washington, DC at a high-performing charter school called Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy. He teaches Geometry, Algebra and English Fiction, and a new self-designed course called Principles of Leadership that has acquainted students with the qualities of strong leadership, pushing them to explore self-initiative, accountability, humility and honesty. Ari enjoys traveling and has extensive travel experience around Latin America and Europe. He is also fluent in Spanish and currently works with many Spanish speaking students in his classroom. “I have found that knowledge of foreign peoples and cultures is integral to understanding one’s own culture, and this is particularly valuable for students and young leaders.” Magdalena Salazar (Mentor) Maggie is from San Antonio, Texas. She is a native Spanish speaker whose family is from Mexico. She currently works as a Youth Program Facilitator for the Alamo Colleges facilitating leadership, entrepreneurship and serviceoriented activities with youth groups. She hopes that her time as an AYLP mentor will help her in her goal of becoming the director of a non-profit or service-learning agency where youth adults excel as service leaders. Additionally, Maggie hopes to purse a masters’ degree in organizational leadership in the next two years. “I want to be a facilitator to help students develop the ideas they have about becoming a global leader. I am excited about the opportunity to share my experiences with others.”
Sallie Abbas (Mentor) Sallie, from Cary, North Carolina, has graduate degrees in Mathematics Education and Applied Science/Physics and has taught high school, middle school, elementary, and college coursework in addition developing curriculum, courses and even founding a school. She is fluent in Spanish and French and served as a translator in Uruguay and Costa Rica, in addition to having traveled extensively to many parts of Europe and Asia and especially Latin America where she has been at least a dozen times. Sallie has also held numerous leadership positions as a volunteer and her hobbies include teaching, tutoring, sewing, crafting, and gardening. “It is important to guide U.S. youth to an awareness that extends beyond the borders of their country. Youth have the ability to form international friendships that can carry forward into their adult professional lives.�
Austin Widjaja, 16 Austin is from Boyds, Maryland. He is Head Accountant for General Humanitarian and Environmental Aid Cultivating Relations by Students, an organization that raises funds for developing communities around the world, and has held positions of Class Representative of the Ecology Club, Vice President of the Physics Club, and Accounting Class Representative. In the future, he wants to improve his community and guide his friends and peers to success by helping educate people about health, how to improve their health, and feel better about themselves. Austin hopes to go to the University of California, Los Angeles to major in psychology or neurology. His hobbies include tutoring, accounting, financial activities, watching anime, and reading fantasy books.
Bryton Fett, 16 Bryton, from Reston, Virginia is excited about Partners for the experience to work with other Youth Leaders in her area to help the community while having fun in the process. She wants to create a project that enriches the education of children of under-privileged areas. Bryton is a “steward,” or a nominated group of ambassadors for her school. Last year, she was also leader of the school’s Black Students Union. Her dreams include attending a good college and starting a nonprofit organization. Additionally, Bryton loves to sing and is the Alto section leader of her high school’s chorus and Madrigals.
Cindy Cruz, 16 Cindy is from Washington, DC Cindy is among the top 5% of her 11th grade class. She is also part of a youth theater group called Paso Nuevo where students get acting and technical theater training, study the works of renowned many authors, and create and write their own original pieces (short plays, skits, monologues poems, and songs), and perform them for the public on GALA’s main stage. Paso Nuevo was recently recognized for its work by the White House. For her service learning project, she plans to create a program in which she can incorporate her talents, interests, and experience to uplift and teach her community’s peers. Cindy’s goals are to be happy and successful and have a job she loves to do.
Edith Statham, 15 Edith, from Monument, Colorado, loves the outdoors and hopes to do something in biology or genetics to help the environment. She also likes to cook and is interested in therapeutic skating. In fact, she just got involved in the C3 Therapeutic Skating Program at her neighborhood ice skating rink where she volunteers to help kids with mental disabilities learn to skate. Edith wants to attend a good college where she hopes to continue playing field hockey. Edith is recognized by her school’s faculty for her service and exceptional academic performance in addition to her athletic abilities. She is very excited for this opportunity to learn about Paraguay and practice Spanish. Gabriela Romero-Hunter, 15 Gabriela is from Topeka, Kansas. She loves sports, and wants to be on the varsity team for all the teams she plays on. In school, she is not only recognized for her outstanding grades but also for her leadership on the wrestling mat. A sport largely dominated by her male peers. Gabriela volunteers at VIDA, an organization for Spanish speakers interested in learning or improving their English skills. This has influenced her idea for a service learning project in which she aims to provide a community tutoring service not only students, but also their parents. Also, Gabi runs medical samples to test in the hospital lab at St. Francis Hospital. Her long term goal is to graduate from college and become a dentist.
Jake Fedorowski, 17 Jake, of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, loves music, movies, and photography. His hobbies include singing, acting, and dancing. He is the President of his school’s Drama Club and is responsible for organizing events, planning banquets, and recruiting volunteers to help in shows. Explaining his beliefs about what it takes to be a leader, Jake said, “Without organization, nothing will function. I have also learned that communication is key. You have to have a solid form of communicating so that everyone knows what is going on and when.� In the future, Jake hopes to attend a good college, become a doctor, have a family, and travel the world. For his service project he is focusing on hunger and education in his community. From his trip, Jake wants to gain insight about the world around him and about cultures unlike his own.
Jimmy G. Garza, III, 17 Jimmy is from San Antonio, Texas and enjoys volunteering in many ways. He has helped remodel homes and clean up his community and parks. He also volunteers coaching baseball and football, tutoring, and organizing food and blood drives. Last year, to fund a trip to Peru to volunteer as a village Vina Vieja, Jimmy helped with the Peruvian Festival and Chaskis 8k run/5k walk to fundraise. His hobbies include fishing, hunting, and studying other cultures. His love of sports influenced his service learning project for youth involvement in sports to learn values of team work, hard work, and commitment to overcome adversity. He is recognized by his teachers inside and outside the classroom for these very same qualities he would like to promote.
Leslie Rodriguez-Vazquez, 16 From Northfield, Minnesota, Leslie has a lot of experience working with kids from her time volunteering. She was recently appointed to be on the Northfield City Mayor’s Youth Council where she will represent local youth on all issues concerning Northfield youth. Leslie is also currently a junior representative in a MN Senator’s office. Also, last summer she was a fellow leader in SummerPLUS, a six-week summer educational program for students of diverse backgrounds. Just last month, Leslie attended Mayo Clinic Research Conference which focused on sudden deaths in athletes and issue she is concerned about. For a future service project, she would like to provide school supplies to improve the learning experience for young students.
Lindsay Carey, 17 Lindsay, from Cornelius, North Carolina, enjoys giving back to her community by working with children, especially local preschoolers. She volunteers in a hospital and in a child development center as an assistant teacher in a classroom. Here she took on a leadership role in re-organizing an old library leading a group in building shelves, organizing old books, and cataloguing the new additions. For her service learning project, Lindsay wants to create a garden for elementary school students. In the future, she aspires to study anthropology at a four-year college, join the Peace Corp, then live in DC and work at Smithsonian Institute. .
Lukas Camby, 17 Lukas is from Fairfax Station, Virginia. He loves to volunteer and recently has worked studying honey bee colonies and helping clean-up the Chesapeake Bay. This March, Lukas volunteered at the US High Speed Rail Summit sponsored by the US High Speed Rail Association another area Lukas is very interested in learning about. His goal for the future is to work in urban planning and development. Until then, he hopes to gain knowledge through his experience about other cultures and people as an AYLP participant. Lukas writes “I hope to eventually start a project to promote global awareness and friendship. Many projects like this are needed around the world and it’s essential that programs and systems such as this one provide for a link between members of the global community.� He is currently International Baccalaureate candidate at his high school.
Margaret Cardaropoli, 16 Maggie, from Davidson, North Carolina, enjoys art, reading, studying the world, and outdoors activities. She volunteers for many programs for children with learning disabilities and/or behavioral issues by tutoring at the Ada Jenkins Learning Center, serving as a mentor in Students against Destructive Decisions (S.A.D.D), and volunteering as a nominated student for Kids Improving Social Skills (K.I.S.S). She hopes to create an after-school program for students to expand their understanding and appreciation for their environment. In sports, Maggie has earned recognitions in both volleyball and lacrosse and has even served as an assistant soccer coach. .
Mariana Wachter, 15 Mariana is from San Antonio, Texas and highly regarded as a violinist in the symphony and chamber orchestras where she is also a section leader mentoring other less experienced students on orchestra performance. Her goals include traveling the world as a professional violinist, making the community more sociable, training horses, and teaching kids with autism how to be able to ride, and control their emotions to interact with the community. Mariana is highly regarded by her school’s faculty and peers as being an excellent musician, a diligent student, and a considerate leader.
Marwin Guzman, 15 Marwin is from Washington, DC. A few years ago, when four new students arrived in the United States from El Salvador and came to his school, Chavez Prep, Marwin helped them every day by translating lessons, classwork and homework, and helping them learn English. He even goes as far as calling them after school to see if they understand their homework assignments. In the future, Marwin wants to become a pro-bono lawyer but also help children born with birth defects, such as a cleft lip. Marwin’s interests include technology, law, soccer, tennis, golf, basketball, and NASCAR. He also enjoys volunteering with the Sierra Club in D.C., cleaning up trash in parks.
Maureen Gleason, 17 Maureen, from Owatonna, Minnesota, dreams of traveling the world as a creative writer and journalist. She is currently a Captain of her school’s Speech Team and Student Council Committee Chairman. Last spring, Maureen worked with the Crisis Resource Center to help raise awareness of domestic violence in support of the FLARE-UP program, a program working with the legal system to speed along the process of domestic abuse cases. The project went very well, and the Steele County justice system now uses FLARE-UP. Additionally, she would like to someday run a marathon, backpack through Roman ruins, and learn to expertly SCUBA dive.
McKenzie Maddox, 17 McKenzie is from Cornelius, North Carolina. Through her church, she has gone on several mission trips to North Carolinian mountain regions to paint houses and install infrastructure. McKenzie also volunteers at the Ada Jenkins Community Center tutoring first and second grade students. Her goals include becoming bilingual because there is currently a language barrier in her community and she would like to start a program to help native Spanish speakers improve their English. McKenzie is excited to have the opportunity to be immersed in Spanish and to better to understand a new culture. She hopes to someday become a dentist.
Nathaniel Vang, 15 Nathaniel, from Charlotte, North Carolina, enjoys fishing, camping, and spending time with his family. He currently attends Military Global Leadership Academy, a military leadership academy and hopes to someday graduate as valedictorian, then attend Unites States Military Academy West Point, and become a civil engineer. He volunteers at the Discovery Place where he says he has learned that, “no matter what age visitors may be, everyone is just as curious.” Nathaniel would also like to one day create a nonprofit energy efficient shelter for homeless people to live in.
Neema Githere, 15 Neema is from Lakewood, Colorado, and her family is originally from Kenya. Not only does she speak almostflawless Spanish, she is also fluent in Swahili. In fact, as a specialized tutor, she recently taught a family friend’s mentally handicapped adult daughter how to read in Spanish. She describes herself as a “total book-worm” who also loves slam poetry and hearing stories from senior citizens. She would like to someday pursue a career in service by working for Doctors without Borders as a maxillofacial surgeon, or by becoming a pro-bono lawyer. For her service project, she hopes to pioneer an education initiative in the city or a river cleaning program in Golden, Colorado.
Rosalind Nichols, 16 Rosie is from Topeka, Kansas. Her interests include meeting new people, creating art, tutoring kids, encouraging more youth to get involved in their church or community, making and sharing music, and helping people understand other cultures. Rosie was involved in American Field Service, a network of American and international students, in which she participated in a number of volunteer projects in her community. To expand this, she would like to do a project in her high school or community where foreign exchange students are welcome to talk to kids from her home town. She believes this could show students the importance of intercultural learning and would also allow kids to bond and meet new people.