Annual Regional Youth Networking Newsletter
Issue #13
This publication is designed to highlight the great work of youth and
to connect youth in our region who are interested in preventing substance misuse and raise awareness about teen mental health
issues in their communities.
Having a Conversation and Making a Difference

On Saturday, June 20th, the Greenwich Academy community came together to support the Black Lives Matter movement in order to keep fighting against social injustice. The aim of the rally was to stand in solidarity with Black communities. At the rally, we heard from current GA students, in addition to some alumnae speakers. We also made pledges for action and listened to many different stories of students, alumnae, and parents during the open mic. We closed with 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence in remembrance of George Floyd, and we honored the lives of Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, and the many others whose lives have been taken. In addition, we also set up two GoFundMe pages to collect donations to support the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and the Loveland Foundation.
~Lauren Harteveldt
Grade 10, Greenwich Academy
Party Sober PSA Contest
Every year, Greenwich High School's Outreach club, a SADD chapter, collaborates with the video production class and host a Party Sober PSA contest. Watch the winners below.
What is the Ram Council Foundations?
During this year of Ram Council Foundation’s leadership program, students can attend meetings and activities, learning how to have a healthy and safe high school career. The New Canaan group is run by Counselor/Prevention Specialist Joyce Sixsmith and Co-Advisor Dan Sixsmith. The Ram Council Foundation is a non-profit organization that can provide high school students with a safe community to participate in educational programs and substance-free activities. Within this group, there are many leadership opportunities and guidance to make healthy life decisions. When going into high school it can be a scary process of trying to see how to fit in. During this time many are peer pressured into things they either don’t condone or know of the harmful effects. Ram Council provides me the safety of knowing that I can have fun, without drinking or doing drugs. Our group meets monthly for delicious dinners to discuss many different topics. Every month there is a substance-free activity which has included beach nights, movie nights, laser tag, hibachi nights, arcades, and so much more. Ram Council recently added an 8th-grade group. As a founding member of our Middle School group, it is nice to see 8th graders come regularly and join our group. It is helpful for the 8 th graders to get to know lots of our high school members and making positive decisions.
During this pandemic, the future is unknown. The Ram Council, however, is still running. Every Wednesday night, we meet for one hour discussing a new topic. Joyce considers it to be a Spring Internship for all members that want to participate on the executive Team. Under this role, we partake in our weekly Zoom meetings and see how we can expand our group. Despite Covid-19, I am still learning about topics such as how to properly show up for a college/job interview, and how I can self-advocate.
Ram Council has given me the confidence to say, “No substances and unhealthy decisions". I have learned many things from attending almost every meeting. Some things I have especially loved is to be able to partake in public speaking, volunteerism, communication skills, balancing my school and social life, learning about the transition to college and boosting my physical and mental health. This extracurricular is a life-changing opportunity everyone should try. I am so grateful to be a part of this group that has given me self assurance for what I can do during my high school years!
~Paris Pescatore
Grade 10, New Canaan High School
Ram Council Executive Team Member, Founding Member 8 th Grade Ram Council
Inspired by volunteering, AITE student raising money for Stamford Hospital

A 15-year-old Stamford student has launched a  GoFundMe  campaign to raise money for Stamford Hospital.

Clerin John, a sophomore at the Academy of Information Technology & Engineering, has volunteered in the hospital’s cardiology unit for a year, stocking the pantry and talking to patients. But she has not been able to volunteer since the coronavirus crisis began, so she said that starting the  GoFundMe campaign  is the perfect way for her and others to make a difference.

“I know Stamford Hospital is taking donations to purchase supplies and PPE,” said John. “Donating to a cause like this impacts a lot of people’s lives.”

She created her campaign earlier this month, with the goal of reaching $10,000 — all of which will go to the Stamford Hospital Health Foundation Inc., to help purchase personal protective equipment supplies such as face masks, gloves and disposable gowns for the healthcare employees working on the front lines of the health crisis. “Doctors and nurses at Stamford Hospital need PPE to keep them safe from this deadly virus,” John said on her campaign page. “Help the doctors and nurses who are sacrificing their lives to save others.”
As of Thursday afternoon, $2,525 has been raised. To donate to the Stamford Hospital PPE fund, visit  www.gofundme.com/f/coronavirus-virus-relief-stamford-hospital-ppe .
dfierro@greenwichtime.com
Outreach Club at Greenwich High School
While this year didn’t end as planned, the events that The Outreach Club were able to host were very successful! We participated in the September Mental Health Fair, along with many other organizations: GHS Mental Health Staff, StressLess Club, Mindfulness/SEL, Greenwich Hospital Healing Touch, Greenwich Hospital Vaping/ Smoking Cessation & Sleep Greenwich Together Prevention Council, Silverhill Hospital, Family Centers Health Care, YWCA DAS, Liberation Programs, UCONN Recovery Center, The Rowan Center, Laurel House, Renfrew Center, and Kids in Crisis. The fair was very successful and was constantly packed with GHS students, curious in learning more about the plentiful support in our community. The Outreach Club also held its annual textile drive in support of the Harris Project. While we are disappointed that we were unable to hold one in April, we had a very successful one in December. We raised over 4,000 pounds of textiles (4,203 pounds to be exact!), keeping trash out of the landfills. All the money raised went to the Harris Project, an organization that brings awareness and educates about co-occurring disorders. If anyone wants to donate old, ripped, stained, or otherwise ruined fabric/shoes, please consider bringing them to the permanent green bin outside of the Arch Street Teen Center.
~Sofia Wilison
Grade 12, Greenwich High School
Did you know that plastic can break down and harm the waters and those who inhabit them?
Microplastics are small particles of plastic that have been broken down from larger types of plastic that we use in our everyday lives. Plastics easily enter larger bodies of water due to runoff from rivers. Microplastics are extremely toxic to animals and the marine ecosystem as a whole. Two bodies of water, Goodwives River, a fresh-water stream, and Holly Pond, a brackish inlet of Long Island Sound, were tested for microplastic amounts. For each of the 12 sample days, a water sample was collected in both bodies of water. Then a dye, hematoxylin delafield, was put into the water sample that highlighted the amount of microplastics in that sample. The microplastics were counted using a microscope. Holly Pond had a higher amount of microplastics because it is a still-moving body of water that accumulates microplastics. Goodwives River is a running body of water so microplastics are constantly flowing through the river. Holly Pond collects the freshwater from rivers, so it had a larger accumulation of microplastics. It was found that Holly Pond, on average, had around double the concentration of microplastics than Goodwives River. Also, Holly Pond had higher averages on days after it rained because more runoff entered the body of water. With these results, my community will hopefully become more aware of the harm of plastic pollution. 
~Lila Karl
Grade 12, Darien High School
Is gambling just for fun? Not always.
The Bridgeport Caribe Gambling Awareness Youth Leadership Council is an organization that serves the sole purpose of educating both the youth and adults in our community on gambling and the risk factors involved. We have been a group for four years. Each year we focus on two major projects including doing a presentation for a community event or a local middle school and making a PSA. This year we chose to make a PSA and present to high school students. 

This is our second year creating our own Public Service Announcement. Our topic this year was Gaming and how it can become a problem, if it is a priority. We chose gaming because it has become such a popular activity over the years. The amount of people gaming worldwide has increased tremendously, so we thought that it was important to get the message across about how dangerous it can be and the behaviors that can lead to an addiction. In order to create our PSA, we had to complete three major steps which included creating a storyboard, writing a script, and working with a production team to shoot our film. After finalizing it, we moved on to creating our presentation.  We created a presentation that we could use to present to a group of high school students. This presentation was created on google slides and it gives a clear understanding of Gaming 101. We will bring awareness by showing our PSA and giving our presentation on gaming. 
Stamford HS junior organizes fundraiser to benefit hospital workers
Stamford High School junior Shaina Bond created a  GoFundMe campaign  to raise money for healthcare workers at Stamford Hospital during the COVID-19 crisis. Well, the Stamford High community has certainly put her plan into action. As of Friday afternoon, the fundraiser that began on April 5 had brought in $1,461 to benefit hospital employees.

Black Knight Nation, the student community at Stamford High, partnered with Rinaldi’s Deli in Stamford to provide food for the healthcare workers. “A few weeks ago, I knew I wanted to help by giving back to the community,” said Bond, the junior class president. “It’s hard to get a hold of medical supplies, so I figured I could get the Stamford community together — Black Knight Nation.” When a total of $1,250 was raised on   GoFundMe.com , Stamford High donated another $250 that enabled the fundraiser to meet its first goal of $1,500. The money raised was used to purchase food at Rinaldi’s Deli, which was delivered to Stamford Hospital by a school official. The fundraiser also aids a local business such as Rinaldi’s Deli. “It is great that we can provide sandwiches and cookies to Stamford Hospital healthcare professionals and I put together a ‘thank you’ video that we are also going to send over to the hospital,” Bond said.
The ‘thank you’ video includes messages from students, current teachers and past teachers.
On Thursday night, Bond said the fundraiser will remain open and they are seeking more donations to offer a second lunch to the Stamford Hospital employees. The new goal is $1,750.
“We are all very grateful to everyone at the hospital for the endless they have worked and for putting themselves on the line,” Bond said. “My mom is an essential worker, so I see what it’s like and a lot of my friends’ parents are essential workers.”
To donate money toward the fundraiser visit:  www.gofundme.com/f/stamford-high-gives-back
dfierro@greenwichtime.com


Youth Asset Team, Youth Give Back
What is Youth Give Back? The Community Fund of Darien provides semester long experiences for 7 th  and 8 th  graders focused on learning about human service needs in Stamford, Norwalk and Darien and participating in community service projects with high school mentors.
This past fall/winter I was asked to serve as a mentor to the 7th graders of the Youth Give Back (YGB) group for the second year in a row. I, without hesitation, told Emily Larkin (The wonderful lady in charge of the group) that I was honored, and would love to help out. This decision was easy for me to make because I too was a member of the YGB in middle school.
 
I can clearly remember how much I enjoyed and respected the experience of working to improve my community with my older mentors. They were with me at every event, leading with example and showing all the traits of someone to look up to; a calm face, kindness, and dedication to helping as much as possible. This is something that further impressed me when I was a leader because I found out that being a role model and a leader helps push the younger volunteers to work with more passion and dedication to improving the community.
 
While working at Fairgate Farm, a local non-profit, inner-city farm, it was clear to see that the volunteers were not working very hard and lacked motivation. I quickly walked up to them, picked up a shovel, and got to work. I worked much harder than I normally would have, and it paid off because the volunteers began to pick up their pace as well.
~Evan DiVita
Grade 11, Darien High School
Fairgate Farm   is   a volunteer-powered and socially responsible garden that supplies fruit and vegetables to individuals on the West Side of Stamford and nonprofit agencies. ( http://vitastamford.com/fairgate-farm/ ) Our YGB students worked with Farmer Pete to harvest vegetables and prepare the grounds for winter.
Depot Youth Center Welcomes 8 th Grade SADD!
The Depot Youth Center started a chapter of 8 th Grade SADD this past year. 8th Grade SADD has been able to continue to meet through Zoom. These meetings have allowed members to learn more about high school as their freshman year is approaching. The students are continuing to learn about important issues facing teenagers. Darien High School Resource Officer Bryan Wallman joined us for a group discussion one afternoon.

 8 th Grade SADD welcomed a New Executive Board last month, Lachlan McLaren as Head Liaison, Sofia Miller as Deputy Liaison, and Elizabeth Hall as Secretary. Over the summer our new Executive Board plans to coordinate with various speakers such as Police Officers and others who have firsthand experiences that are relevant to the middle school members. Our goal is the same as last year in that we are aiming to teach students about the problems they will or have faced to make the best decision possible.
 
There are many problems facing kids of this age range today and we aim to help guide them. This club also provides students with more information and understanding of how important SADD truly is. We thank Officer Stu Schwengerer, our Advisor, for helping us to make such a
successful and educational year for 8th Grade SADD. We are excited to continue meeting with
this year's members and welcome a new group of 8th Graders next school year.
~Lachlan McLaren
Grade 10, Darien High School, Head Liaison
~Sofia Miller
Grade 11, Darien High School, Deputy Liaison
~Elizabeth Hall
Grade 11, Darien High School, Secretary
Stamford Student Awarded For Volunteer Efforts
Not many high school students would choose to spend their Saturday sweeping floors and stocking shelves, let alone for free, but that's exactly what 16-year-old Ethan Fleck wanted to do with his free time. A sophomore in the Carpentry Technology trade at J.M. Wright Technical High School, Fleck has volunteered at both The Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County and the Ferguson Library, helping out in any way he can on weekends and days off from school.

Fleck said his help mainly consisted of lending a hand wherever and whenever needed. He was recently recognized for those efforts with a President's Volunteer Service Award, which he will be presented with during an after school Student of the Month event. According to Wright Tech Principal Phyllis Bartoli, a few students at the school had applied for the award, however it was ultimately awarded to Fleck for all his hard work. Fleck said his decision to get involved as a volunteer was inspired by an innate desire to help others in need. "I wanted to do something that could help people," Fleck said. "I was looking for a soup kitchen or something like that, because I like to cook and make food, but I found the Food Bank. I ended up making a bunch of friends over there." He also thought it was the best possible way to utilize any time he had not spent on school and other commitments. "Laying on the couch and being a vegetable wasn't helping anyone," Fleck said. "If I was going to have free time, I wanted to at least help someone."

Fleck ended up enjoying his time helping out at the Food Bank so much he sought out another volunteer opportunity in the city, stocking books and performing other tasks at the Ferguson Library. "I love reading," Fleck said, "so I thought maybe volunteering at the library could help other people enjoy reading as much as I do." Though he sought out these opportunities on his own, Fleck said the school also puts a lot of emphasis on volunteering, especially within students' specific trades. "Some trades actually have volunteer and internship programs, which is embedded in their work," Bartoli said. "I think because we're a small school, the teachers and the trades that students are in can make a bigger impact in these students' lives. The trades here become somewhat of a family...and they really can impact, shape and sometimes save students' lives." For Fleck, giving back to the community only seemed right due to the love he has for his city. "Stamford has a nice diversity of people," Fleck said, "and it does have a lot of people that want to help others. I just wanted to grow that community of people and hopefully be a role model to other kids."
Local student selected as 1 of 14 SADD Speaks Representatives
SADD SPEAKS is one of SADD's National Programs, a leadership and advocacy training program which encourages students to address cigarette and vaping issues at the National, State, and local levels. Fourteen students from across the Nation are chosen to meet in Washington D.C. to speak with Government Officials at Capitol Hill regarding teens and vaping/e-cigarette use

Rhea Bhat was recently selected for the 2020 SADD SPEAKS program. Rhea was planning on flying to Washington, D.C., where the four-day training was taking place in late March. She was excited for this trip, especially meeting representatives of National Organizations that are dedicated to youth safety. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this opportunity was unfortunately canceled. However, recently Rhea was also selected to serve on the 2020-2021 SADD National Student Leadership Council. As part of this Council, she will help to ensure that students across the Nation make healthy decisions for themselves. As part of the Board, she helps spread the Lookup Challenge, which emphasizes mental health to many students and families around the world. Rhea hopes to continue working with SADD at the local, State, and National levels during this unprecedented time. Rhea, and The Depot chapter of SADD are currently trying to promote the importance of taking this time to reflect on oneself and their lifestyle choices. 
Rhea is entering her Junior year at Darien High School. She was appointed Secretary of the Depot chapter of SADD for the year 2020-2021
 Congratulations Rhea!
~Sgt. T.J. Moore, SADD Advisor
~Janice Marzano, Program Director, Depot Youth Center 
Darien Depot SADD Chapter
The Depot chapter of SADD has just come to the end of the 2019-2020 year, and is excited to welcome a new executive board. We, Eva Larino and Georgia Sheehan, will be taking over for former co-presidents Sage Gupta and Kaitlin Olvany alongside Lachlan McLaren (Vice President), Rhea Bhat (Secretary), Juliette Johnson (Social Media Chair), and Amelia Kuhn (Publisher). This past year SADD welcomed many speakers and health advocates, hosted a town-wide Safety Fair, and discussed many relevant mental health issues and peer pressures facing teenagers today. Our new Executive Board has been hard at work planning events, meetings, and speaker visits. We look forward to carrying on Depot SADD traditions such as the annual Safety Fair, PSA video filming, and mental health documentary showings. SADD has also been reaching out to rising freshmen hoping to welcome new members and build our community this coming year. We thank Janice Marzano, our Program Director, and Sgt. TJ Moore, our Advisor, for their roles in making this a successful, fun, and educational year for all members of the Depot SADD chapter. We are excited to welcome our members, new and old, back to The Depot in September for another awesome year.
~Eva Larino and Georgia Sheehan
Grade 11, Darien High School, Co-presidents
Mentoring Through Media PSA
During this semester of the New Canaan CARES Leadership Program, five students (Pippa Williams, Sofia Roth, James Singer, and Payton Welch) and I were granted the opportunity to be a part of Mentoring Through Media as our community service project. It was described as a way of helping the community through, you guessed it, media. Immediately we knew that this is what we wanted to do, use the powerful tool of the internet and technology to help benefit others in our community. When it came time to meet, Tracey Masella, LCSW our mentor, she gave us the option to make a PSA to inform others on the dangers of improper storage and disposal of prescription medicine. The whole group unanimously decided that we would do it because it would help out our community. When we began planning out the video, we had decided that each person would have a different part to do: one person with statistics on prescription medicine misuse, another on reasons not to hold on to prescription medicine, etc. On the day of filming, we had one of our members record us while we each read our part. After recording our portions of the project, we went to the New Canaan Police Station to record a video of the prescription medication box being used and we were lucky enough to have Lieutenant Ogrinc say a few words about the box. We were all proud of our efforts and hope that it would help spread awareness on how to properly dispose of prescription medication. We believed that it was important to advise others on the dangers of improper disposal and storage of prescription medicine because it could help prevent those drugs from falling into the wrong hands and even save lives by doing so. The Mentoring Through Media group was happy to help the community with this project and we hope that this PSA will spread the message on proper disposal of prescription medicine.
~Ishan Tyagi
Grade 11, New Canaan High School
Mental Health Awareness Campagin
Darien Depot
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