Adams Corner native shines in classroom, neighborhood service

By Ashley Miranda and James Wyse

Editor's Note: The Keystone Club, a youth group based at the Colonel Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club, has begun a new project in coordination with the Reporter to profile outstanding neighborhood youth throughout the year. This is the fourth in that series of profiles, dubbed Keystone Stars, prepared by Keystone Club members Ashley Miranda and James Wyse.

Sarah Leahy, a senior at Boston Latin School who hails from Adams Corner, loves helping people. Sarah is involved in many organizations that help people, both inside and outside of school and she likes to encourage younger kids to "get involved and stay involved."

Sarah has been the recipient of many awards in school including the Fidelity Award and the Approbation Award, which is for excellent grades. Not only has Sarah won many school awards, she has also received recognition and awards for her role in the community too.

Academically, Sarah dedicates her time to helping students prepare for the MCAS exam. She currently serves as an Office Assistant at the Schawber Center, which is an organization that helps students prepare to take the SAT and MCAS test. Sarah donates her time tutoring after school and helping with the SAT Success Program.

When not busy with school activities, Sarah enjoys Irish step dancing and for a period of time danced competitively. Sarah also works for the Mayor's Youth Line, which is a phone operating service that helps connect people to youth-based events, summer jobs and summer programs for youth.

For Sarah's future she has a few things in mind. At the moment Sarah is really interested in attending Northeastern University for many reasons. The first is that she is really looking forward to pursuing a career in journalism and wants to major in Communications/Journalism. The second thing that caught Sarah's eye was the Northeastern "study abroad program," which she is really looking forward to participating in.

Another issue that Sarah believes strongly in is stopping violence in our community. Although Dorchester is a great place to live, violence is a problem that needs to be addressed.  Sarah also thinks the media does a disservice to Dorchester by constantly displaying her neighborhood as such a bad place, when it is not. Sarah thinks that the media needs to spotlight the good stuff happening in Dorchester more often.

Sarah is also part of a Girls Group where she attends summits. At these summits they offer motivational speakers and activities, as well as featuring women who are good role models and have made important contributions to society. Sarah has been influenced greatly by these summits. One account that Sarah can recall about the summit is when a girl approached her and shared her excitement about being part of this summit. This girl moved Sarah because she saw how lucky she was to be part of this great organization. Another moment that Sarah recalled was at the Women 2 Group that featured young Middle-Eastern girls as guest speakers. After hearing these girls share their stories Sarah was greatly moved and understood how lucky she was to live in America.

Sarah Leahy is a great role model, participating in activities inside and outside of school that share a common goal: helping others in need. Sarah gives unselfishly of her time to make school a better place for her fellow students, and to make her community a nicer place for her neighbors.  These are the reasons that Sarah Leahy was chosen for this month's article.  Thank you Sarah!