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May 2025 Edition

The LEAH Project Newsletter

In This Edition You'll Find:

Announcements
Partner Spotlight: State Street
From the youth: What LEAH's been up to!

BUT FIRST ...

Let's Celebrate Our Seniors!

Congrats to the Class of 2025 on graduating and moving on to your post-high school adventures! See some of our seniors and their chosen colleges and universities below:

From left to right: Maddie, Rochelle, Nghia & Jennie

From left to right: Ricardo, Anh, Sebastian & Jasmine

From left to right: Jessica, Nishma

Announcements

Click on the Highlighted Words to Learn More!

Save the date for LEAH's End of Year Celebration!

Partner Spotlight:

State Street

In April, LEAH had the pleasure of hosting Anthony Almanzar from State Street, who led a financial literacy workshop for our STEM Teaching interns. During the session, Anthony covered everything budgeting, to different types of bank accounts, credit cards, loans, interest, and paying for college.

The Youth Leaders were so engaged and asked insightful questions throughout, resulting in rich conversations on these important topics. This marks the second year in a row that an expert from State Street has joined us to share their knowledge on financial literacy. We are so grateful to Anthony for his time, energy, and invaluable insights!

From the Youth:

What LEAH's Been Up To

Panel: Women and Nonbinaries in STEM

Written by: Amy Romero Merino

The panel was a beautiful space to hear the stories of the panelists in STEM and the challenges they’ve faced. I felt deeply inspired listening to their journeys and the strength behind their words. What moved me most was the reminder that, as women, we often have to fight harder to be seen, but that fight makes the reward even more meaningful. One panelist said to never doubt our worth, to never walk into a room thinking we don’t belong. Those words were really inspiring and it motivated me to set aspiring goals for myself. As a woman pursuing STEM, this path means everything to me. No matter how hard it gets, I’ll keep showing up for myself and I will keep embracing every moment as a chance to grow, learn, and become a stronger person. I’m so excited!

A special thanks to all of our panelists: Dilagsayini Mylvaganam, Ella Trumper, Christa Rose, and Anoush Najarian

A visit to BU's Medical Simulation Lab

Written by: Jessica Vuong

I participated in the simulation lab visit to get a first-hand account on what it’s like to be in medical school. I’ve always had a very linear career path for myself as a sonographer, but wanted to know: what else is outi there for me? We got to learn more about the first-year medical students and they made this whole process of becoming a doctor seem humane. They said it was okay to make mistakes, and the best thing they can admit is that they don’t know, so that they can learn and grow more. My favorite thing about the physical exam was learning how to measure someone’s heart bpm in real time! My first time seeing a live ultrasound was with a job shadowing at MGH (Thanks Katie!!), so seeing one in a school setting instead honestly brought that whole experience to life. Everything I learned and saw in that live experience was what actual ultrasound techs taught me during that job shadowing. I had so much fun and it was a wonderful time!

Special thanks to: Talya Cohen-Neamie, Edmund Zhi, and Dr. Wisco from Boston University's Anatomy Academy for making this field trip possible!

Spring Retreat

Written by: Rochelle Castor

I wanted to help plan the spring retreat because I really wanted us to have a moment to connect, reflect, and just have fun together before the summer. It felt important to create a space where we could celebrate everything we’ve accomplished and look forward to what’s next. During the retreat, we played charades, painted canvases to represent the colleges we’re heading to, and got creative with other art as well. After that, we grabbed pizza and ended the day playing volleyball at Boston Commons. It actually got pretty competitive, but it was so much fun and full of laughter. One of my favorite moments was seeing everyone cheer each other on and just be fully present and it reminded me why I love being part of the LEAH community so much.

The Youth Leadership Team's

Social Event

Written by: Amir Rodrigues-Carbajal

The YLT Social Event was a game night, in which the LEAH community was invited to compete in a variety of games to win raffle tickets. The more raffle tickets people won, the more they increased their chances of winning one of seven prizes!

The event featured two team-based escape rooms (designed by Amir), video games, and board games that the youth enjoyed. This event was designed to bring the LEAH community together to relax and simply enjoy time with each other following a stressful two weeks of AP exams and in celebration of the end of the school-year. We were impressed but also in appreciation of the youth's engagement as well as the LEAH staff's participation! The escape rooms definitely posed a challenge for most!

Top: Group picture

Top Left: Youth search for clues to puzzle their way out of Amir's escape room

Top Right: Two of the Youth Leadership Team members welcome everyone

Middle Right: Youth are stumped by one of Amir's Escape Rooms

Bottom Left: Wesley (staff) concentrates on a tricky Jenga play

Bottom Right: Youth play "Poetry for Neanderthals" to win raffle tickets

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