Students grant $10,000 to local organizations
The students of Youth Engaged in Philanthropy (YEP) celebrated their first annual grant and capstone ceremony Sunday afternoon by presenting $5,000 grants to both the Banister Leadership Academy in Aurora and the Hampton Public School Foundation.
Hamilton Community Foundation Outreach and YEP coordinator Lori Thiele introduced the ceremony as a time to recognize the 12 students who were the first to represent Aurora, Giltner and Hampton in YEP.
“Today’s event is to celebrate the students and their achievements as young philanthropists who have dedicated their time and efforts to make a positive impact on their community,” Thiele said.
YEP is a two-year program that teaches students the values of philanthropy and performing service projects to the community. Beginning at the end of their sophomore year, students can apply and be interviewed about why they want to join the program. One of those first-year participants was Hampton High School junior Macy Miller.
“I want to be a teacher and one of main things teachers do is helping students and I feel that by helping my community, it would be a good head start in helping my future students,” Miller said.
Once the program began, the students met together for two-hour sessions each month to learn how grants are made and go through the grant-making process themselves.
“Over the last eight months, our group has had the privilege of one of the many key lessons pertaining to the impact of philanthropy in our community,” said Aurora junior Morgan Calkins. “We started our journey in September... Taking a panoramic view of beginning in the United States, we learned about the social values exemplified in the transaction of giving and receiving. Through an interactive exercise, we were able to distinguish between symptoms and root causes of social problems.”
“We participated in a research project to gather information on specific nonprofit organizations and review the different financial models to see their various sources of revenue,” Calkins explained. “Furthermore, we were introduced to the rationale of grant guidelines, eligible criteria and requests for proposals.”
The students also went on site visits to nonprofits in the community to learn how to interact with nonprofit organizations seeking grants.
“We made ourselves familiar with each proposal that was submitted for consideration,” said Jake Cattau, Aurora junior.
More than a helpful learning experience, Miller said the program was also very enjoyable as the students learned to work together.
“It was a very comfortable atmosphere and we got along with everyone,” she stated. “We were able to accomplish our goals as well as have fun in the program. We were able to decide the grants without arguing and we were able to do different challenges together as a team.”
“We all bonded well together,” Aurora junior Jasmine Hansen commented. “We never argued or anything and we can all share our insights.”
In February, the students came to a decision regarding the first nonprofit recipients to receive YEP’s two initial grants totalling $10,000, money donated to the program by the Robert and Bethel Kolar Charitable Trust.
“The remarkable generosity of a donation of $10,000 has made the Youth Engaged program possible,” said Kash Majerus, Hampton junior. “Together let us continue to sow the seeds of kindness and compassion, knowing that even the smallest act of giving can yield the greatest harvest of hope.”
Receiving the grant check on behalf of Banister Leadership Academy were Akile Banister, Lacey Schafer and Cassie Zywiec. “
In presenting the check for Hampton Public Schools Foundation, Aurora junior Keelan Phillips said, “We believe this grant will serve as the call, empowering Holly Herzberg, Brian Litz, Megan Faller and the Hampton Public School Foundation to continue their transformative work by providing essential resources and support. This contribution will enable them to further their mission of positively impacting lives, fostering growth, development and the opportunity for all. Thank you for your unwavering dedication to making a lasting difference in the community.”
Following the presentation of the grant awards, the students acknowledged their mentors, Roberta Cool, Angie Coufal, April Mason, Tonya Papineau and Maggie Preissler for guiding them throughout their first year.
The students also expressed their appreciation to Thiele for coordinating YEP and allowing them to connect with the community as well as maintaining their regular school schedules.
“My biggest takeaway from this is just connecting with different people within the community,” Miller said. “
As seniors the group will continue to learn about fundraising as it mentors a new group of juniors who will join the program in the fall.
Thiele and HCF Executive Director Tammy Morris also expressed their thanks to the students, the mentors, Banister Leadership Academy, Hampton Public School Foundation, the school administrators and educators of Aurora, Giltner and Hampton, the Robert and Bethel Kolar Charitable Trust and the Hamilton Community Foundation Board of Directors and staff for making YEP possible.