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2025 Partner Celebration Recap

Thank you to the 150 guests who joined us on Wednesday night for our annual Partner Celebration! We enjoyed connecting with new and old supporters, reuniting with some of our treasured alumni, and collectively reflecting upon and celebrating the partnerships that make WPY's work so meaningful.

Thanks to the collective efforts of our sponsors and guests, we raised more than $70,000 to support WPY's youth programming. See below for our list of incredibly generous sponsors.

Our speaking program featured motivating remarks from our Executive Director, Magali Garcia-Pletsch, a thoughtful speech from this year's student speaker, Victoria Silveira, and powerful sentiments from our keynote speaker, Javier Jaurez. We were also overjoyed to present Waltham Valor High School with this year’s Community Impact Award–watch the video below.

Lastly, we'd like to extend a huge thank you to our friends at Bentley University who support us with their beautiful venue, the Waltham High School string trio who never ceases to impress us with their music, and to all of the other volunteers who helped to make this event a success.

Career Exploration & Training (CET)

Connecting students to life-altering career development opportunities through meaningful paid internship experiences.

Pictured above: WPY Teen Mental Health Alliance Peer Leaders, Mattison and Bemsi, at TMHA's Mind Matters event.

This month, the Career Exploration & Training (CET) team successfully wrapped up the 2024-2025 School-Year Internship Program.

This spring's Teen Mental Health Alliance (TMHA) cohort hosted Newton-Wellesley Hospital's Community Health Program Manager, Steve Dautruche, who shared his trajectory to working in community health.

The TMHA also completed their final community project, choosing to prioritize the issue of teens feeling unable to vocalize their own mental health challenges or respond to those of their peers. In response, the TMHA invited Families for Depression Awareness (FFDA) to facilitate a conversation for TMHA's Mind Matters event, which aimed to help destigmatize mental health discussions and encourage high school students to become comfortable with both talking about and listening to mental health challenges. Two FFDA Peer Storytellers shared their mental health journeys, offering insights into their challenges and recovery. The interns also facilitated activities that built community and reliability among the 20 attendees. A special shoutout goes to this year's TMHA Peer Leaders: Bemsi, Mattison, Leanne, and Priya. These four worked tirelessly to create a strong sense of community among their peers.

Educators of Tomorrow also wrapped up their year-long internships. The McDevitt Bilingual Mentoring Program hosted an end-of-year celebration for mentors and their mentees. The event featured games, raffles, and personalized superlatives from their mentors, celebrating the mentees' growth and accomplishments throughout the year. 

The Educators of Tomorrow program hosted the 3rd Annual Educators Signing Day in partnership with Waltham High School. Educators Signing Day is a celebration for students who have committed to pursuing a postsecondary degree in education, modeled after the tradition of student athletes celebrating their college commitments. This year, Waltham Public Schools staff, students, families, WPY staff, and Waltham's Mayor all gathered to honor seven seniors heading to education studies programs this fall.  Superintendent Dr. Marisa Mendonsa, Senior Associate Principal Dr. Bobby Lyons, and Waltham Educators Association president Nate Rono all shared stories of the teachers who had a profound impact on their lives and inspired them to pursue the teaching profession. 

The CET team is now busy at work preparing for the WPY Summer Internship Program!

Wraparound Waltham

Collaborating to create a community of belonging and opportunity for newcomer immigrant students and their families.

Pictured above: WPY Wraparound Senior Program Coordinator, Alexa Cuellar, addressing students at Waltham Valor High School's graduation.

The Welcome Center had an eventful month hosting two community partner events for Waltham students and families. They partnered with Brandeis University's Upward Bound Program to facilitate a workshop for Spanish-speaking parents of incoming ninth graders and current Waltham High School students to learn more about Upward Bound’s summer program. Students and families learned about school-year enrichment, mentorship, college prep, and more! They also hosted National Grid representatives for families to ask questions about their gas and electrical bills.

WPY staff member Bebelin Galvez has joined the Wraparound team! In addition to joining the Welcome Center twice a week to support with referrals, Bebelin has been supporting our Wraparound programming at McDevitt Middle School. In partnership with the Bilingual Guidance Counselor, Kaitlyn Vallejos, Bebelin is conducting Needs Assessments with newcomer middle school students, co-facilitating the Welcome Class, and joining Ms. Vallejos' student lunch groups to continue to strengthen relationships with students. 

The Wraparound team also stayed busy at Waltham Valor High School (WVHS). They wrapped up this spring's Teen Mental Health First Aid trainings, offered in English and Spanish for WVHS students. The Wraparound Team was thrilled to celebrate Valor High School's first ever graduation! We are proud to share that twelve students received their High School Diplomas, surrounded by their families, friends, Waltham Public Schools staff, Waltham School Committee members, and other supporters. The room was filled with cheering, smiles, and even some tears of joy!

Opportunities for Youth and

Community Members:

Summer 2025 Virtual Therapy Groups

National Grid Customer Advocates at Welcome Center

National Grid Customer Advocates will be available to meet with community members at McDevitt Middle School on Tuesday, June 3rd, from 3-5:30pm. Please email Waltham Welcome Center Coordinator, Marlen Godinez, with questions.

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