Five students from the Class of 2011 at Hoosick Falls Central School recently attended a networking day in New York City where they met with five professionals who shared stories about their careers, offered advice on how to be successful and pledged to stay in contact with the students to help them plan their college and post-college careers.
The five students – Kendra Andrew, Mike Brewster, David Ciuk, James Lynch and Brennen O’Donnell – earned the trip to New York City after being named finalists for a scholarship offered by the JLS
Foundation. The JLS Foundation, which honors the memory of the late John Liporace Sr., was created to empower high school students at HFCS to realize their fullest potential by exposing them to a variety of career opportunities, connecting them to a network of career professionals and awarding them with the financial resources to pursue their careers. Each year the Foundation offers a networking opportunity to HFCS students entering their senior year.
The networking day was hosted by John Liporace Jr., Managing Partner at Taylor, one of the country’s leading public relations agencies, at his office in the Empire State Building. Liporace arranged for the students to meet with five professionals who included Ken Kencel, President and CEO of Churchill Financial, Matt Lalin, Founder, StarPower, who has negotiated $100 million worth of marketing deals for professional athletes, Dr. Joyce Liporace, one of the country’s leading neurologists specializing in concerns for women with epilepsy, Kent Rhinehart, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Marist College, and Sean Swarner, the first cancer survivor to summit Mt. Everest. HFCS teachers Chris Marsh and Isabel McGuire escorted the students to New York.
Each of the five speakers shared stories of how they started their careers and what they felt were keys to success.
“We brought in five speakers this year which is more than we’ve ever had,” said John Liporace, Jr. “It was a very diverse group that offered a lot to the students. Joyce, Ken and Matt shared great stories about rising to the top of your profession. Sean, who was told twice that he was going to succumb to cancer, spoke about overcoming any challenges you face in life. Kent provided great insight into the college admissions process at a key time for the students as they begin the process of applying to college.”
Each of the students has been asked to write a 250 word essay about their experience in New York. One of the students will then be selected to receive a $2,000 scholarship and a matching donation of $2,000 will be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a national voluntary health organization dedicated to finding cures for Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and Myeloma and to improving the quality of life of patients and their families. The donation will benefit the Upstate New York/Vermont Chapter of the Society, which services the Hoosick Falls area.
For more information about the JLS Foundation, log on to www.thejlsfoundation.org.