Students of Passaic County Technical Institute’s (PCTI) Lindsey Meyer Teen Institute (LMTI) group has been selected by the organization as the Most Outstanding Prevention Action Group in New Jersey. They were honored at the Summer Leadership Conference with the Lindsey Rose Meyer Memorial Prevention Award which is distributed to the school with the most comprehensive and multi-dimensional program demonstrating innovation, creativity, and passion. Some of PCTI’s notable projects included a cross-age teaching project with 7th and 8th grade students about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, teambuilding activities with middle school students, the development of an awareness week focused on preventing tobacco use, park clean ups, creating care packages for individuals at homeless shelters, presenting at Parent-Teacher meetings, and providing mental health resources and positive messages to the student population at their school.
The award was established in April of 2005 in loving memory of Lindsey Rose Meyer, a passionate and enthusiastic Teen Institute leader and advocate, who passed away in 2001.
About the program, PCTI Advisor Fatima Ramirez said, “I have seen the LMTI program empower my students. It helps them realize that there isn’t an exact mold to be a leader. They can step out of their comfort zone and take all of these positive risks. Every single group that PCTI has brought to LMTI has been able to grow in a way that I don’t think they would have been able to do if LMTI was not a part of their lives.”
LMTI is a state-wide prevention organization that encourages teenagers to realize their leadership potential, thereby empowering them to facilitate positive change within themselves, their school, and the community. Each chapter has its own “Action Group” which promotes healthy life choices through awareness projects that are developed and executed by students.
PCTI Receives Top Award at Summer Leadership Conference
PCTI LMTI Advisor Fatima Ramirez (Elmwood Park) and students Natividad Alemany (Passaic), Raylin Geraldino (Paterson), Renee Angello (Wayne), Alexa Stoepker (Clifton) Amira Eldesouky (Prospect Park), Emma Casler (North Haledon), Eleny Pereyra (Clifton), Jenna Gleason (North Haledon), Rachel Schneider (Little Falls), Satsuki Villalona (Paterson), Mariamelia Rodriguez (Paterson), Yuliana Santos (Paterson), Christopher Mazzoccoli (North Haledon),Hajar Hraimel (Paterson), and Isabella Kovar (Clifton) showcase the “Change Award” they received at the LMTI Summer Conference.