Class of 2007 journal

N E W G E N E R AT I O N L E A D E R S H I P & W O R K F O R C E I N S T I T U T E

MIAMI BEACH CONVENTION CENTER JUNE 29, 2007

T H E N E W G E N E R AT I O N L E A D E R S H I P A N D W O R K F O R C E I N S T I T U T E PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH TO REACH HIGHER, DREAM BIGGER AND WORK SMARTER

MARGARITA CEPEDA-LEONARDO Executive Director For the past three years, UNIDAD of Miami Beach, Inc. has offered a unique and innovative youth development and leadership program aimed at providing inner city youth with the opportunity to reach higher, dream bigger, and work smarter while achieving life and career goals. The goal of the New Generation Leadership and Workforce Institute is to help prepare today’s youth to excel in tomorrow’s workforce and in their lives overall. Dramatic shifts in the labor and economic market are making the 21st Century one of the most challenging periods in American history for young workers. Many high school students are ending their educational years without mastering the critical thinking, teamwork, and problem

“THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN DEVELOPED WITH LOVE, PASSION AND DEDICATION FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS”

solving skills necessary to successfully compete at their highest potential in the workforce. In addition, future generations may lack knowledge of the basic principles of civic involvement and participation.

The New Generation Leadership and Workforce Institute enhances academic and career training by using current and future labor market information to create a roadmap of short and long term goals that aligns with participant’s abilities and interests. The Program is funded by the South Florida Workforce Investment Board with support from the City of Miami Beach and The Children's Trust.

The program offers a continuum of academic and career development opportunities and culminates in participation in intensive summer programming at two levels for selected youth.

Level I and Level II programming provide more advanced leadership, workforce and career development activities including internships, work experience, leadership training, civic involvement learning, development of debating skills and pregnancy preventing activities.

The curriculum is taught by internationally acclaimed professional speakers and trainers and is designed to inspire and motivate youth to reach beyond their own expectations.

CLASS OF 2006

This year, enrollment was so successful that a waiting list had to be developed. Of the 190 participants registered, 57 were chosen for Level I of the institute after an exhaustive selection process with trainers and counselors. These youth completed seven weeks of intensive workshops and training, demonstrating their commitment to the development of leadership skills and to their futures. While many high school students spent their summer at the beach, our graduates were hard at work developing skills and achieving goals. In 2008, 25 of those exhibiting the greatest leadership potential will participate in Level II of the Institute.

Today we celebrate the graduation of the 57 exceptional youth who have completed Level I of the New Generation Leadership and Workforce Institute. Join us in recognizing their achievements!

During 2007-2008 we anticipate that 243 youth will participate in the program. Visit our website for program updates through the year: www.mbhcc.org. If you have suggestions for volunteer speakers, field trip experiences, funding sources, sponsors or other program resources, please contact: Ms. Margarita CepedaLeonardo at mcepeda@mbhcc.org.

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MAYOR DAVID DERMER City of Miami Beach

VICTOR M. DIAZ JR. on behalf of the Staff and Board of Directors of UNIDAD of Miami Beach, Inc./Miami Beach Hispanic Community Center

EDWARD MANGOLIS CHAIR South florida Workforce Investment Board

As Mayor of the City of Miami Beach, it is both a privilege and a pleasure to congratulate you upon your graduation from the New Generation Leadership and Workforce Institute. I have every confidence that the knowledge and skills that you gained from this outstanding program will propel you forward on a pathway to success.

Each of you has faced many challenges to reach this point and you should be proud of yourselves for facing them head-on. Your continuing pathway to success will present you with a fair number of challenges as well, but now, more than ever, you are well-prepared to handle them and keep moving forward.

Always remember the valuable life lessons that you have learned from the New Generation Leadership and Workforce Institute and use them as you move toward the future.

Remember to thank all of those who have helped you get to this point, too, and most importantly enjoy this special day and celebrate your success – you’ve earned it!

Best wishes.

Dear Graduates: Congratulations on a job well done.

During the past several weeks, you have challenged yourselves to grow personally and develop the skills you will need to compete successfully in an ever crowded job market. You should feel very proud about not only your progress, but also your discipline in staying focused and accomplishing a goal you set for yourselves.

We share your pride in your accomplishment.

Congratulations also to your families who supported your participation in this program and to the dedicated team of counselors and trainers who assisted you. They too should take pride in your graduation.

Finally, thank you to South Florida Workforce, The Children’s Trust and the City of Miami Beach whose support made this program happen: Both organizations are filled with caring people whose commitment to your future success is strong and continuing. Their success – and ours – will be measured by yours.

We have given you an opportunity to succeed, what you do with the skills learned and the knowledge gained is up to you. We are counting on you to continue to make us proud!

Wishing you much success.

To the Graduating Class of 2007: The South Florida Workforce Investment Board congratulates you on your successful completion of the New Generation Leadership and Workforce Institute. Now that you have completed the program, we are certain that you are prepared to meet challenges that will be put before you as you venture into the workforce. This experience will open doors to career possibilities and help you build a future as a productive citizen in a changing world. It takes determination, dedication and perseverance to become selfsufficient by today’s workforce standards and you are well on your way.

As you gain additional experience, we are confident that you will provide solid leadership, and be innovative and creative in performing assigned task. You have also grown to appreciate the meaning of teamwork.

The South Florida Workforce Investment Board wishes you every success as you embark upon this milestone in your career. Be assured of our continued support. Stay focused, keep your feet on the ground and reach for the stars. We are all predicting a brilliant future for you.

Again, congratulation and best wishes!

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MICHAEL SESSIONS Mayor of Hillsdale, MI The Youngest Mayors in United States History

Michael Sessions (born September 22, 1987) is the mayor of Hillsdale, a city of about 8,200 people in the U.S. state of Michigan. He was elected November 8, 2005, and was sworn in on November 21.

At the age of 18, he was among the youngest mayors in US history.

Sessions’ $700 war chest from his summer job was enough to fund a successful door-to-door write-in campaign.

A write-in campaign was the only option because Sessions was too young to be on

MARIA BEATRIZ GUTIERREZ Director of Legislation Miami-Dade County Commission

Office of the Chair Bruno A. Barreiro, District 5 Maria Beatriz Gutierrez, better known as “Betty”, is Director of Legislation for Bruno A. Barreiro, Chairman of MiamiDade County Board of County Commissioners. She started her civic

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the ballot in the spring of 2005. The results showed that Sessions got 670 votes, compared with 668 for incumbent mayor Doug Ingles, age 51, after a recount did not award Ingles any new votes, but disqualified 62 votes for Sessions. He was awarded one vote that had been in question by the elections office, which read simply “the 18 year old running for mayor”. Ingles initially requested a recount, but withdrew the request at a special City Council meeting.

On November 21, 2005, Sessions was sworn in as mayor for the city of Hillsdale. On the agenda for that night was an amendment to the current sign ordinance, an ordinance to set up a college zoning district, and the results of the 2005 city audit. Many media outlets were in attendance including: TV Azteca (Mexico), Nippon TV (Japan), Russian TV, The Detroit Free Press, and many local media outlets. Sessions has also appeared on Judge Hatchett, Montel Williams, NBC Today Show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and the Late Show with David Letterman.

The mayor, who receives a $250

monthly stipend, “plans to devote after-school hours to the job (while attending nearby Hillsdale High School during the day) and use his bedroom as his office”. Sessions graduated from Hillsdale High School in May 2006. He is now a freshman at Hillsdale College.

Sessions appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman earlier in 2005 to read the Top 10 list titled “Good Things about being an 18year-old Mayor.” Saturday Night Live parodied this event, with cast member Andy Samberg playing a caricatured version of Sessions as the mayor whose new laws would include “anyone who gives the mayor a ‘swirlier’ will be given the death penalty!”

Sessions has since performed two marriages, one in which he married a Hillsdale County Commissioner Alan Ringenberg to the owner of the Coffee Cup in the city of Hillsdale, Pai Eshelman. The other marriage ceremony he performed was for two high school classmates of his, Curtis Miller and Erica Tran.

involvement in the City of Miami Beach with the Miami Design Preservation League which advocates for historic preservation. She served as a member of their Board of Directors for many years and as Chairperson from 1993 to 1998.

This work lead her to involvement in other community organizations and issues. She chaired the City of Miami Beach Hispanic Advisory Board in 1993, at a time when there was little Hispanic representation on City Boards; and as a result was one of the founders of UNIDAD of Miami Beach, also known as the Miami Beach Hispanic Community Center. She served as Chairperson of the City of Miami Beach Community Development Advisory which makes

Community Development Block Grant recommendations to the Miami Beach Commission, and as Vice-President of the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation which develops affordable housing and homeownership in Miami Beach. Betty also served on the Miami Beach Housing Authority Board from 2000 to 2006 and presided as Chairperson the last two years and is currently a member of the City of Miami Planning Advisory Board. Betty’s dedication to community involvement lead to her service in government. She has served on the staff of Commissioner Barreiro since 1998 in several capacities.

Betty Gutierrez is an active member of our community.

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HONORABLE ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN United States Congresswoman / 18th District of florida Since her election in 1989 to the United States Congress, Ileana RosLehtinen has proudly represented Florida’s 18th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Forced to flee with her family from the oppressive communist regime of Fidel Castro, Representative Ros-Lehtinen became the first Hispanic woman and first CubanAmerican elected to Congress and a powerful voice for the South Florida community.

Throughout her life, Ileana has been dedicated to serving her community.

After completing public education in Miami and graduating from MiamiDade Community College, she followed her passion for education and earned a Bachelors of Arts in Education from Florida International University. The Congresswoman then founded and served as the Chief Administrator of a private elementary school. Ileana’s passion for education continued whilst completing a Masters in Educational Leadership at FIU, and earning a Doctorate of Higher Education from the University of Miami.

Understanding the issues facing South Florida, Ileana was elected in

1982 to the Florida State House of Representatives, becoming the first Hispanic woman in that body. She was then elected to the Florida State Senate in 1986. Whilst serving, Representative Ros-Lehtinen met and married fellow Florida legislator Dexter Lehtinen, who went on to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. The couple have two children, Amanda Michelle and Patricia Marie, and two step children, Katharine and Douglas.

When the 18th Congressional District seat was vacated by the passing of Claude Pepper in 1989, Ileana won the seat, and has been strongly returned to Congress since.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has been a strong leader in the United States Congress, fighting to advance the needs of South Florida and ensuring that the nation continues to prosper.

As a former educator, she has been a strong voice for addressing the education needs of her community. Whilst in the Florida Senate, Ileana introduced legislation to create Florida’s first Pre-Paid College Tuition plan.

This plan has enabled students to attend college, equipping them with the resources to reach their highest

ambitions. Without this plan, many of these students would have been denied this opportunity. Continuing her support for the education of our future leaders, she recently voted in favor of H.R. 5 to reduce the interest rates on student loans, ensuring that education is an attainable goal for all families in the community. Representative RosLehtinen has been a strong advocate of programs that address the serious problem of violence against women.

As a co-sponsor of H.R. 2876, which reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, Ileana sent a strong message to the community that violence against women is unacceptable, and ensured that programs to address this problem continued to be funded into the future.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the Ranking Member on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, having previously served as a senior member on the International Relations Committee, and as Chair of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, the Subcommittee on Africa, the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights and as Vice-Chair on the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

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HONORABLE MATTI HERRERA BOWER MIAMI BEACH CITY COMMISSIONER Mrs. Matti Bower (Commissioner) was first elected to the Miami Beach Commission in November 1999.

Commissioner Matti Herrera Bower has established a reputation for being dedicated and passionate about the issues that face Miami Beach. Her enthusiasm to help others is respected by all who meet her and she is recognized as an independent leader in the community.

Prior to her election, Commissioner Bower began her career as a community activist over thirty years ago as the President of the Feinberg Fisher Elementary School Parent Teachers Association (PTA). Commissioner Bower has also served as President of the PTA at Nautilus Jr. High and Miami Beach Senior High Schools.

Additionally, she worked on countrywide issues as a member of the MiamiDade County Public School Board’s Attendance Boundary Committee, Committee on Bilingual Education, Miami-Beach Feeder Patterns and the Citizens’ Advisory Board. A major cornerstone of her ongoing efforts is to ensure quality education for all students, making Miami Beach a great place to live and work.

Commissioner Bower has worked tirelessly on issues that directly affect people. Most recently, she led the

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Miami Beach fight against the movement to rescind the Miami-Dade County Human Rights Ordinance, which protects the rights of everyone, regardless of an individual’s sexual orientation. She co-founded the Miami Beach Hispanic Community Center, is a past Commissioner of the Miami Beach Housing Authority, and a former member of the Community Development Advisory Committee.

Commissioner Bower is the recipient of numerous awards including the Miami Beach Development Corporation Founding Chairman’s award, City of Miami Beach Community Heroes Award, Miami-Dade Park and Recreation Department’s In the Company of Women Pioneer Award, MDPL Chairman’s Award, Boys and Girls Club Award, the National Housing Award, the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Women of Leadership Award and Women Worth Knowing Award from the Miami Beach Commission on the Status of Women. She has also received certificates of appreciation for her work with Miami Beach Housing Authority, Miami Beach Hispanic Community Center, Miami Design Preservation League, Miami Magnets’ District Advisory Committee, Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce, North Area Region I Citizens Advisory Committee, South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Council for Excellence in Government.

Born in Cuba, Commissioner Bower is a retired dental assistant who has resided with her husband Richard Bower in Miami Beach for more than 30 years. Commissioner Bower has four daughters: Manon Hernandez, Lisa Roman, Laura Reubenstine, Lisa Jo Bower and six grandchildren Katie, Natalie, Tommy, James, Ann, and Lee.

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ANDREW S. LERMAN AUTHOR Drew Lerman was born in Miami, FL in 1987. In tenth grade, he won the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Novel Writing contest, for which he received the prize of working with an editor for the chance to have his novel published. Over the next year, he completed the second draft, corresponding with his editor David Levithan, and continued to develop the novel's story and characters. Then, the summer before his senior year, Lerman moved to New York for five weeks where he did a full-time writing internship at Scholastic, working closely with Levithan, to complete the third draft of the novel.

In January 2006, Lerman received a contract from PUSH, an imprint of Scholastic, to publish his book Magic City. The book, which focuses on the lives of five teenage friends from Miami, was published in February 2007. The book is also being translated into Portuguese, Polish and Hebrew.

In March 2007, during the spring break of his freshman year at Dartmouth College, Lerman went on a five-city book tour with four other PUSH authors, beginning in New York and ending in South Florida. He is currently at work on a new novel, which also takes place in his hometown of Miami.

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Waleska E. Conde

Program Coordinator

Talmage Thornhill

Counselor

T R A I N E R S

Mirizza Menendez

Center Director

Raymond Adrian

Director of Operations

Eleana Brouwer

International Etiquette

Armando Alonso

Management Resource

Ofelia Sanchez

Jackie Bruno

Katherine Hernandez

Team Leader

Team Leader

Management Resources

Gisel Shull

Juan Casimiro

Ana Manzano

Academic Advisor

Counselor

Lisa Badillo

Bradd Blackmon

Counselor

Team Leader

Insight, LLC

Ophellia M. Valls

Management Resources

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India Ball

Marlie Sanchez

Yoandy Perez

Lizzie Galvis

Jorge Sanchez

Brian Franco

Andrew Franco

Alan Hicks

Mark Lewis

Trevon Woods

Ryan Williams

Devon Woods

Jovan Wooten

Christopher Georges

Willie Dixon

Michael Del Valle

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Kelly Diaz

Jose Beltran

Vanessa Huffman

Mapi Pina

Gala Balaguer

Vanessa Perez

Jouberte Milfort

Daja Lucas

Andrew Aruca

Alisha Josey

Lizette Camacho Corredor

Alina Perez

Angel Pierre

Stefano Toppino

Imarogbe Josey

Anthony Perez

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Fabian Cuyun

Corina Grazutis

Yamile Valdez

Jesseca St. Ilma

Sebastian Hoyos

Alejandro Ortega

Henrietta Isaac

Derick Pinkney

Anita Amison

Juliana Louis

Duwon Clark

Yoselyn Ramos

Nihita Turner

Quinetta Pinkston

Makeeba Major

Linda Byrd

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Shanika Floyd

Matha Michel

Desiree Hale

Christina Barthelemy

Sara Metellus

Angel Castellanos

Christian Gracia

Jennifer Hinojosa

Linda Nunez

Mark Zavala

Alexander Hernandez

Program Highlight Ballroom Dancing with instructors Randy Pittman and Kelly Fairchild

Special Thanks to: Ms. Valmarie W. Rhoden, Principal and Eugenie Anim – William H.Turner Technical Arts High School Dr. Allyn Bernstein-Sachtle, Principal, Nautilus Middle School Dr. Edward Robinson, Miami Coral Park Senior High School Mr. Alvarez, Mater Academy Charter High School Mr. John Jacobs, Miami Springs Senior High School Staff of: Miami Beach Career Center, North Side Career Center, West Dade Career Center, and Hialeah Downtown Career Center Kelly Fairchild, Deloitte & Touche LLP Randy Pittman, Best of Dance Mohammad Hamadulin, Editor Hialeah Neighbors Begone Cazalis, Hialeah Neighbors SYMS Austin Burke

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