submitted by John Liporace
Five students from the Class of 2013 at Hoosick Falls Central school spent two days in New York City on September 16 and 17 visiting the city and meeting with professionals from various walks of life who shared their stories of success while offering college and career advice.
The five students – Samantha Brewer, Matt Brewster, Molly Fleming, Kassidy Hitt and Frankie Pearson – earned the trip to New York City after being named as finalists for a scholarship offered by the JLS Foundation. [private]The JLS Foundation, which honors the memory of the late John Liporace Sr., was created to empower students at Hoosick Falls Central School to realize their fullest potential and instill a spirit of community service in the students.
This marked the eighth annual trip to New York offered by the Foundation. It was the first where a former JLS Foundation scholarship winner was one of the featured speakers during the networking day, which was hosted by John Liporace Jr., at his office inside the Empire State Building. Kaitlyn Pirie (HFCS Class of 2006), who was the first winner of the JLS Foundation scholarship, told the students to pay close attention to everything that happens on the trip because they never know how it might impact their lives.
Pirie heard a journalist speak to her and her classmates during her trip in 2005 and decided she wanted to pursue a journalism career. Just seven years later, she is now living in New York City and working at Time, Inc., the largest magazine publisher in the United States, writing and reporting stories for Real Simple magazine.
“Kaitlyn’s story was an important one for the students to hear, and I think she really connected with them. She was literally sitting in their seats not too long ago and was able to explain how she went from there to where she is today,” said John Liporace Jr. “More important than the journey were the lessons that she learned along the way, which she was able to very authentically communicate to the students.”
In addition to Kaitlyn, the students heard from Dr. Joyce Liporace, one of the leading neurologists in the country specializing in women’s health and epilepsy, Matt Lalin, founder of Star Power, a leading provider of sports and entertainment marketing services, Sean Kaylor, the Vice President of Enrollment at Marist College, who shared advice about the college application process, and Sean Swarner, a two time cancer survivor and the first cancer survivor to climb Mt. Everest. HFCS teachers Chris Marsh and Lisa Ferrannini escorted the students to New York City.
Each of the students has been asked to write a 500 word essay about his or her 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 in Upstate New York and Vermont. If the students complete a pre-determined amount of community service before they graduate the scholarship amount increases to $4,000.
For more information on the JLS Foundation visit http://www.facebook.com/TheJLSFoundation,
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