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| Join Shepherds Staff and Mentors to welcome Spring on March 28. Enjoy drinks and heavy appetizers. Please bring a friend to introduce them to the rewards of mentoring a Shepherds student or just bring yourself so we can thank you! Thursday, March 28 from 7pm to 9pm Fairfield County Hunt Club 174 Long Lots Road, Westport Please RSVP to Amy Chickles, Shepherds Director of Programming at: achickles@shepherdsmentors.org |
Shepherds, a non-profit based in Bridgeport, has supported the education and success of inner-city teens from the New Haven and Bridgeport areas for 20 years. During National Mentoring Month, Shepherds students will celebrate the role that mentors play in their lives with a Mentor Appreciation Night at Notre Dame West Haven High School. Mentors make a monthly commitment of time and energy to an individual student and receive professional training and extensive staff support throughout their four-year commitment.
Results over 20 years have demonstrated that Shepherds students have a much higher likelihood of graduating from high school, pursuing higher education, breaking the cycle of poverty and becoming productive members of society. Since 1998, 265 students who might otherwise have dropped out of high school have graduated and gone on to institutions of higher learning, military or civil service roles.
Shepherds is committed to helping these students achieve their potential through a high quality, college preparatory curriculum, go on to higher education, and eventually become valuable and productive members of society. Fifteen adult mentors are needed for students beginning high school in September of 2019.
Financial sponsors are always needed to help to defray tuition costs and provide additional supports and services throughout the school year including test prep and remedial supports. If you are open to making a valuable impact on a young person’s life and reaping the personal rewards that come with it, please contact Dan McAuliffe, Shepherds’ Executive Director, by April 15th. You can reach Dan by email dmcauliffe@shepherdsmentors.org or call him at 203-367-4273.
From The New Haven Register
By Eric Anderson Updated 11:28 am EST, Friday, November 23, 2018
STUYVESANT, New York – It was a close call for hundreds of holiday travelers aboard an Amtrak train on Thanksgiving Eve when two of the passenger cars separated from the rest of the train.
The cars had just been attached at the Albany-Rensselaer station to provide more seating for the packed Adirondack, which had originated in Montreal and was heading south to Penn Station in New York City.
A quick-thinking Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student, freshman Reuben Clarke, of West Haven, Conn., was credited with pulling the emergency brake at the front of the car.
“The car from the back of the train was like leaving us, and I saw sparks and stuff like that and a huge gust of wind,” Clarke, an offensive lineman on the RPI football team and 2018 graduate of Notre Dame High School in West Haven, told CBS 6 News in Albany. “So I just calmed myself down, and I was like, we have to stop the train and make sure everyone was fine.”
The train was carrying 287 passengers and crew when the incident occurred. No injuries were reported, the cars didn’t derail, and passengers were transferred to a new train to continue their trip, state police said. The Adirondack had just left the Albany-Rensselaer station when the cars decoupled about 7:22 p.m.
Trains on that section of track can travel up to 110 mph. It’s not clear how fast this train was traveling when the cars separated.
Clarke “saved our lives tonight,” Helen Mark Crane told CNN. “Our car broke off from the rest of the train and was picking up speed. There was no Amtrak personnel in our car. Reuben calmly went into action and pulled the emergency brake at the front of the car. Thankful he was on the train with my son and I.”
Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said the railroad is investigating the cause of the separation.
One transportation source said the cars, which he believed were added at the Rensselaer station, should have stopped automatically when they separated. But if they had been improperly connected, the automatic braking might not have worked.
The incident occurred on one of the busiest travel days for Amtrak. The Adirondack was delayed about 3 hours and 15 minutes, Amtrak tweeted, and the northbound Empire Service Train 245’s departure also was delayed because of the late arrival of the crew from the Adirondack.
Read the original article at https://www.nhregister.com/business/article/Amtrak-probes-what-caused-passengers-cars-to-13416229.php?utm_campaign=fb-tablet&utm_source=CMS+Sharing+Button&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3hYLAVwUFgBSpCaymFIS4xdnN_KCMXTniy5f2J2MvN00PJ8bJ6vs7zpY8#photo-16545701
2018 Honoree Tammy Taylor (center) with husband Lou, a Shepherds Board Member and their children Elise, Brigette and Jack
North Haven’s Greg Dillon, a Notre Dame West Haven alum and former police officer, will join the Shepherds Board of Directors this year. Mentoring his 8th student, Jared a rising senior, Greg has seen the impact that the program has had on many young men and their families. All prior seven of the students Greg has mentored have graduated from high school and moved on to college. Greg still keeps in touch with them and says, “There is tremendous satisfaction in seeing a boy enter NDHS, full of doubt and indecision, maybe lacking confidence or unsure of their goals, and leaving NDHS as a mature, poised young man, brimming with potential, with a plan and a bright future.”
Shepherds and Notre Dame West Haven High School held their annual Back to School evening on Tuesday, September 18th. Students, new and old, joined their mentors, families and staff from both organizations to celebrate the beginning of a new school year.
Six young men make up our Shepherds Class of 2022. The group is particularly close having spent the previous several years together at St. Martin de Porres School in New Haven. The students were able to meet their mentors and listen to words of encouragement from school president Robert Curis and Shepherds Executive Director Dan McAuliffe. Thank you to all who made this evening so special.
Pictured Left to Right are freshmen: Cristian Solorzano, Alan Lopez, Carlos Freire, Jose Baselca, David Maita and Christopher Velez.
Community Service has always been an important part of student life at both Kolbe Cathedral and Notre Dame High Schools. In the mid 2000’s students from Kolbe participated in NEA’s Read Across America Day – a nationwide reading celebration that takes place annually on March 2—Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers participated by bringing together kids, teens, and books. Pictured is Kolbe alum Sarah Witkowski donning the signature hat for the cause.
Current Kolbe students are still required to perform community service and oftentimes mentors help students connect to volunteer opportunities that fulfill their requirements. Students enrolled at Kolbe now are expected to participate in the following:
•Freshmen – two group community service projects
•Sophomores – 10 hours of community service in & out of school
•Juniors – 30 hours of community service outside of school
•Seniors – 20 hours of community service outside of the school
Are you a graduate of Shepherds mentoring program at any of our past or current partner schools and have photos or a story to share? We’d love to hear from you! Contact Amy Chickles, Director of Programming at achickles@shepherdsmentors.org.
The planning committee, including Shepherds’ Board of Directors (BOD), met recently to continue planning for this year’s 20th anniversary celebration scheduled for Thursday, October 11th at The Inn at Longshore in Westport. The planning committee met following a BOD meeting at Woodway Country Club in Darien Connecticut. Stay tuned for all of the exciting details including guest speakers, awards, and of course the celebration of the more than 200 students and mentors who have helped to make this program such an enduring success. We need 20 new mentors for the coming year – what about you? Visit www.shepherdsmentors.org for details or to donate to a student’s college prep education in Connecticut.
Pictured are:
Front Row: Shepherds’ PR Committee, Jean Lepore; Shepherds’ Cofounder, Barnet Phillips; Gala Committee Chair, Sharon Phillips; BOD Member, Tammy Taylor; Shepherds’ Director of Programming, Amy Chickles; BOD Member, Fred McMullen
Middle Row: Carrie Sindelar, Shepherds’ Executive Director, Daniel McAuliffe
Back Row:Shepherds’ Treasurer, Lou Taylor; BOD Members Tom Wynne & Dave Moran; Shepherds’ Chairman, Tim Stuart; Shepherds’ Secretary, Mark Milano
One hundred and forty seven young men made up the Notre Dame West Haven Class of 2018. Family, friends, teachers and mentors cheered them on at a celebration in the school gym on Sunday, May 27th. Ernie Santiago was one of seven Shepherds students graduating this year. He was interviewed by the New Haven Register and spoke about the significance of his time at NDWH. ‘“If I can take away one thing from this, it is definitely the brotherhood. Ever since the first day when I walked in I felt welcome, not only by staff and teachers, but by my classmates. We didn’t know each other but we are acting like we were friends from 10 years ago,” said Ernie Santiago, who will study nursing at Quinnipiac University.” We are so proud of each of these students and wish them all the best as they move on to college.’
Rear, Left to Right: Chris Elias ★ DJ Pantry ★ Reuben Clarke ★ Isaiah Kane ★ Front, Left to Right: Ernie Santiago ★ Ryan Haas ★ Alex Rodriguez
Shepherds students from Notre Dame of West Haven will graduate this Sunday. In advance of the ceremony, an Honors Convocation was held in the Collins Auditorium on Thursday 5/17/18. Several of the graduating Shepherds seniors received honors at the event.
•Reuben Clarke received The Robert T. Scheithe ’95 Award as well as recognition by the National Honor Society. Reuben’s mentors are Celia Pinzi and Mark Healey.
•Ryan Haas received The President’s (Trump) Award for Educational Achievement. Ryan’s mentors are Lucy and Mike Abbott.
•Ernie Santiago was recognized by the National Honor Society, the Spanish Honor Society and the TriM Music Honor Society. Ernie’s mentor is Ruby Melton.
Congratulations to these young men for all of their accomplishments. We wish you all the best as you transition to college.
Notre Dame Alumnus Marc T. Little returned to campus last night as a special guest at the school’s annual alumni reception and Shepherds End-of-Year Dinner. A 1983 graduate, Mr. Little was raised in Connecticut by his mother, Antoinette Hart. His father, Pro Football Hall of Famer, Floyd Little, lived out west. Following his graduation, Mr. Little attended USC to study broadcast journalism and get to know his father better – goals he happily achieved.
A near-fatal brush with violence at 22 shaped his future in unexpected ways. He was robbed at gunpoint by an 18 year old gang member, shot and left bleeding on an LA street. He lost his leg as a result and developed complications related to profound blood loss. Following his recovery, he attended USC’s Gould School of Law and received his Juris Doctorate in 1994.
Mr. Little has spent his professional career practicing entertainment law in LA and has continued studying his Christian faith at Fuller Seminary. Since that summer day in 1987 when he nearly lost his life, he has embraced life and become a community builder, church administrator, pastor, blogger and author. He teaches others how to say “yes” to life. He works on various boards and commissions focusing on family preservation and poverty and is a founding board member for Crown Preparatory Academy, a Los Angeles inner city-based charter middle school.
His book, The Prodigal Republican, “chronicles the historic relationship between blacks, Democrats, and Republicans. It is based on three topics: voting your values, family leadership, and Christian faith, all geared toward strengthening the American family”. The book is available on Amazon.
To learn more about Marc. T Little, please visit http://theprodigalrepublican.com/MarcTLittle/About_Marc.html.
