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The Young Men and Women of Excellence is a group that focuses on cultivating young minds into successful leaders beyond high school. On Sep. 20, the Young Men and Women of Excellence received a visit from the Seminole County Police Department and the mayor of Altamonte Springs, Pat Bates. The SCPD and Picerne Real Estate Group gifted the group $10,000 to help them expand and provide them with more unique opportunities for growth.
The club sponsors Chris Andrews and Britney Lacarte have worked hard to find ways to help these students and give them the opportunities they deserve, but with this grant they are able to do much more to help the students and club grow.
“The Seminole County Police Department gave us the money because they loved our cause and our impact. We got the money because Ms. Lacarte has many connections within that system,” junior Savannah Nichols said. “So far it has affected the way we plan things, and it has helped us so we can move our program up, because it is definitely a newer program with very few people with knowledge of it.”
With this generous donation the club is able to invest in themselves and their future. They will use the money to support themselves with community projects and outreach and can even bring in guest speakers or even alumni. The group is beginning to see the changes already with their plans for the rest of the school year.
“The money will impact our group very positively,” senior Joshua Ferguson said. “It will give us many opportunities to explore ways of different bonding activities, field trips to colleges, or even help us fundraise in future school events so we can be more involved.”
The money has already proven to be helpful towards their cause with the Young Men and Women already planning a college visit to Jacksonville this December.
“[The money] was a miracle,” senior Shaunteria Mack said. “We are planning on using it for trips and merch and also things that we could do with it for events and stuff.”
This grant has helped the program in many ways and touched the lives of the members. With the money, the groups will now have opportunities to do more than they could before. As the students prepare for their futures, they will now have financial support to back them up.
