The year the lighthouse team is ecstatic to welcome nine new members. The lighthouse team is dedicated to creating more opportunities for students in the school. They build a strong network for future leaders; they are the unseen hands behind the planning and preparation for some of the school events. This year they plan to engage the student body more and increase the number of students participating in the community to strengthen the identity of the students and teachers in the school. They’re looking forward to a year of connection, growth, and community building.
The following are the new members: Christopher Heese, Autumn Blozowich, and Ramone Williams are sophomores; Gabriella Amatucci, Elyse LaCarte, Colette Momper, Madison Balko, Sophia Zezzo, and Lydia Piper are freshmen.
What made you want to join the lighthouse team?
“I wanted to join the lighthouse team because I wanted to be able to help support our school in different ways. By joining the lighthouse team, I feel like I would be able to do that.” -Gabriella Amatucci
“I joined the lighthouse team with the goal of providing leadership opportunities and sharing the leadership skills learned in Boy Scouts to those who struggle with their leadership and social skills, while also building on my own skills.” -Christopher Heese
“I decided to do the lighthouse because I thought this was a great opportunity to help the community. I also want to be a safe person someone to talk to about issues in our school and community.” – Elyse LaCarte
What impacts do you want to have on the school?
“One way that I would like to impact the school is by showing Wildcat pride. That includes spreading kindness, giving back to the community, and inspiring other students to help us with these projects!” – Lydia Piper
“I want to have a positive impact on this school. I want people to know that whatever you want you can achieve as long as you work for it. When people hear my name I want them to think of a person who never judged, but always kept it real and was a determined respectful person.” -Ramone Williams
“I want to make a good impact on our school by making it a better place for us and our teachers. I want the students to feel important and like they have a say in certain things, along with the hope that everyone can fit in and find friends in every room.” -Madison Balko
What are you excited to do this year that contributes to the school?
“I am excited to do fundraisers for our club and school to open up more opportunities for students who want to succeed in extracurricular activities and higher education. I want to make sure every student has access to something they are interested in, and would participate in the help of our community. By fundraising for different activities, we can help provide that.” – Sophia Zezzo
“I’m excited to take our basketball team to the next level and hopefully win a section title.” -Ramone Williams
“I think the lighthouse team is so neat because it impacts our school and makes a difference. I’m excited to organize events and help other students feel welcomed and loved at school.” Elyse LaCarte
If you could make one big change to the school, what would it be?
“I love this school so much and I wouldn’t change a lot of things because they help the school flow and be an amazing environment. But, if I was to make a change it would be encouraging more people to get involved. Although there are a lot of people already who help with different things in the school, I think that there are so many people who have amazing potential and would make great leaders and help us to make a difference.” – Lydia Piper
“One big change to the school would be to introduce more opportunities to get involved with research. Most top colleges see research as a big accomplishment to get involved in during your high school years. It would also open up the opportunity to compete in very competitive research competitions and programs such as ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair), and MSRP (MIT Summer Research Program)” – Christopher Heese
“One big change I would like to make for our school is to get more people involved with different activities so they feel as though they made an impact, and I want everyone to feel important and safe in the school setting.”
-Madison Balko
What’s one project you want to complete now that you are on the lighthouse team?
“One project I would like to explore is establishing a student mentoring program for new and intentional students to help build community and make their transition to a new school a bit easier. I would like to support new students at GLSD and those who speak English as a Second Language with community and school opportunities that will help them feel more like a part of our school, and succeed in education.” – Sophia Zezzo
“One way I want to help the school is by being a leader and organizing events that kids will enjoy, or that benefit our school. I also want to spread the school spirit around the school. Another way we could improve our school is by having other kids help our club achieve goals. Lastly, I want to help kids build relationships with teachers.” – Colette Momper
“I would love to work with different groups in the school to set up and run a fair for the school. Similar to the Food Truck Fair and the Mental Health Fair from last year, perhaps doing a more traditional fair outside of school hours could be fun. Families of students could attend as well as teachers. Members of different clubs/officers could run different booths.” – Autumn Blozowich
After the first meeting as a whole lighthouse group, did it meet your expectations or did you think it would be something different?
“After having the first lighthouse meeting, I was happy to hear of the ideas people had to help the school. I think this club is also pretty organized, and it has some good leaders. The first meeting was pretty much what I expected, and I think it went pretty smoothly, and everyone was happy to be there and help our school.” -Colette Momper
“I don’t really think I had too many expectations going into the first meeting. I assumed it would just be a time to discuss future plans and goals for the team and it was just that. Nothing surprised me or caught me off guard and I believe the meeting/introductions went well.” – Autumn Blozowich
Check out their Instagram page to learn more about all the members of the team!
GLSD Lighthouse Team (@glsdlighthouse) | Instagram profile
