Our congratulations to YAT member Hailey Quinn for being recognized with the Young Dreamer award during Newton County's 2023 MLK Day Celebration! We are so proud of her leadership within the Youth Action Team. Check out the nomination information below!
Nomination by Jennifer Wilds of View Point Health:
Hailey is the best!!! In addition to her maintenance of the vigorous standards of classwork in Healthcare and Early Childhood pathways at NCCA, she volunteers for additional responsibilities leading others engaged with the Newton County Drug Free Community Coalition (DFC) Youth Action Team (YAT), becoming involved in the Spring of 2021. She participates in multiple community events annually as a YAT Leader discussing community efforts and available resources to curb substance use and suicide among youth. Hailey organizes and encourages peers and NCSS staff members to participate in community programming including Change the World Day, awareness Pop-Ups in the Park, a NARCAN training and focus group for youth, among others. She was the volunteer leader for the Newton / Rockdale Suicide Prevention Coalition annual Sources of Strength awareness event and is the lead organizer of the annual Kick the Habit event with numerous community partners promoting wellness and prevention, sharing awareness of multiple subjects including domestic violence, mental health, substance use, suicide, and infant mortality, to name a few.
She exemplifies qualities of leadership, unity, integrity and collaboration working with peers, school staff and community partners in meeting the holistic needs of Newton County residents. The DFC Chair noted that she is "always the first to arrive and last to leave events, organizes volunteers in an equitable way and manages them with finesse, leads effectively and provides direction with gentle humor. She is an excellent problem-solver and self-starter.” Her HOSA Advisor added “I think Hailey's work with YAT and HOSA truly demonstrates her interest in helping others. Often, students become a part of extracurriculars to pad their resumes, but Hailey genuinely enjoys helping others and is so empathetic towards those that she doesn't know. She has an intuition about working with people in the community that demonstrates a level of maturity and sympathy of someone much much older. I have asked her several times this semester if she needs a break or is feeling burnt out, and she never once has complained about the community work she is involved with.”
Learning of her nomination, one of her peers wrote "Hailey is gifted in the art of collaboration and rallying people from all walks of life to come together and support any cause she deems fit. Her charismatic and positive demeanor allows her to stand out in any environment with ease. The opportunities she's constantly given to me in Youth Action gave me confidence in my ability as a leader and collaborator at a time when I was doubting my capabilities. In a school environment, it is very common for the same students to be called upon to do major leading tasks and Hailey actively works to combat it by empowering them based on talent. Meeting her has had a profound impact on my life and I'm grateful to be her friend and collaborator." As you can see, Hailey is “exemplary in a gracious and modest way”, making a tremendous impact on peers daily and in the overall health and wellness of our community. She advocates for solutions for societal and life challenges faced by those who may not know how to use their voice to empower change or who have been in situations in which their opinion is being disregarded or ignored. We look forward to our ongoing work with Hailey as she continues to enhance her leadership qualities and are thrilled to nominate her for this award!
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