The 2011 Advancing Leadership Youth (ALY) Class recently celebrated the completion of its nine-month program with a graduation ceremony hosted by Grace Church in Federal Way.
The ALY 2011 graduates are: Nimo Azeez, Rubi Barojas, Matt Bascom, Nikhil Bedi, Kasey Carrel, Dahae Cheong, Koby Craig, Ashley Duncan, Reesha Flavors, Leah Freeborn, Elicia Goodwin, Jacqueline Guzman, Hannah Herbert, Highway Jun, Eric Ko, Ming Lane, Eric Lee, Eugene Lee, Cameron Keller, DJ May, Sarah Martin, Abishek Murali, Torie Peterson, Ashley Pinson, Kayla Rhodes, Manpreet Riar, Tyler Rivera, A’yesia Rogers, Drei San Nicolas and Taylor Wintler.
Advancing Leadership Youth, which began in 2004, has been successful in introducing local high school students from highly diverse backgrounds to the components of a healthy community. Participants meet and learn from over 100 local leaders as they develop their own leadership skills over nine months. Students then put their knowledge into practice by planning and implementing a community service project.
The 2011 project, One Day Federal Way, was designed by the students and involved recruiting 300 local volunteers to spend a day cleaning, landscaping and painting Mark Twain and Star Lake Elementary Schools and Totem Middle School.
ALY is made possible by financial and in-kind support from community partners. Comcast has been the premier funding partner of the program since its inception in 2005. Over the seven years it has supported ALY, Comcast has contributed $165,000 plus donated media valued at $225,000. In addition to funding, local Comcast employees have been personally involved in the program, serving on the board of directors and contributing extensive volunteer hours.
Over the past seven years, more than 200 Federal Way teenagers have completed Advancing Leadership Youth. Alumni return regularly as volunteers, facilitating classes, serving on speaker panels and planning committees and supporting new ALY projects. Many of them stay in touch beyond high school via Facebook and electronic newsletters, sharing their continuing leadership experiences and encouraging more youth to apply to the program.
To learn more about the program, visit www.advancingleadership.org.
