CLASS OF 2010

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M I A M I B E A C H C O N V E N T I O N C E N T E R

UNIDAD of Miami Beach, Inc. offers aunique and innovative youth developmentand leadership program aimed at providinginner city youth with the opportunity toreach higher, dream bigger, and worksmarter while achieving life and careergoals. The goal of the New GenerationLeadership and Workforce Institute is tohelp prepare today's youth to excel intomorrow's workforce and in their livesoverall.

The New Generation Leadership andWorkforce Institute enhances academic andcareer training by using current and futurelabor market information to create aroadmap of short and long term goals thatalign with participant's abilities and inter-ests. The Program is funded by the SouthFlorida Workforce Investment Board with

If you have suggestions for volunteerspeakers, field trip experiences, fundingsources, sponsors or other programresources, please contact me at:mcepeda@unidadmb.org

T H E N EW G EN E RAT I ON L E AD E R SH I P AND WORK FORC E I N S T I T U T E

MARGARITACEPEDA-LEONARDO

Execut ive D i rec tor

P R O V I D I N G O P P O R T U N I T I E S F O R Y O U T H T O R E A C H H I G H E R , D R E A M B I G G E R A N D W O R K S M A R T E R

support from the City of Miami Beach andThe Children's Trust. 315 youth have grad-uated the program since 2005. The programoffers a year round continuum of academicand career development opportunities andculminates in intensive summer program-ming at two levels for selected youth. LevelI and Level II programming provide moreadvanced leadership, workforce and careerdevelopment activities including intern-ships, work experience, leadership training,civic involvement learning, development ofdebating skills and pregnancy preventingactivities.

Today we celebrate the graduation of the54 exceptional youth who have completedLevel I of the New Generation Leadershipand Workforce Institute. Join us in recog-nizing their achievements!

Class of 2010.

K E Y N O T E S P E A K E R

BARRINGTON IRVINGPioneer

Barrington Irving is the youngest person topilot a plane around the world solo. He is alsothe first Black person and first Jamaican toaccomplish this feat. As of 2007, he was anaerospace student at Florida MemorialUniversity. His airplane, a Columbia 400, isnamed the "Inspiration", and was manufac-tured and assembled by the Columbia AircraftMfg. Co. in 2005, classified as a standard air-craft in the utility category using over$300,000 in donated parts.

Mr. Irving was born November 11, 1983, inJamaica, and grew up in the Miami, Florida.He is a graduate of Miami Northwestern HighSchool. Mr. Irving turned down multiple foot-ball scholarship offers with his sights set onaviation. He later founded ExperienceAviation, a non-profit organization dedicatedto empowering minority youth to pursuecareers in aviation.

A 23-year old senior at Florida MemorialUniversity in Miami, majoring in aerospace,the young aviator completed his historic worldmission in June this year, traveling more than26,000 miles for 97 days across 27 countriesin a single engine Cessna. At the age of 16,Barrington was encouraged to pursue an aero-nautical career by a United Airlines pilot hejust happened to meet. Capt. Gary Robinsonmet Barrington in a bookstore and offered himthe opportunity to tour Capt. Robinson’sBoeing 777 stationed in Miami. He immediate-

ly fell in love with the thought of becoming apilot. By coincidence, Barrington later metanother pilot, Robert Girdler, who owns aCessna 172 and offered the opportunity to flyevery other week.

After earning his private pilot license,Barrington began to visit schools and youthcenters to speak about career opportunities inaviation. Barrington researched the aviationindustry and discovered there is a significantshortage of younger technically skilled pro-fessionals. He started a company calledExperience Aviation and pushed his messagewhile continuing to work with disadvantagedyouth. In the meantime, Barrington receivedthe Florida Memorial University/U.S. AirForce Flight Awareness Scholarship (worth$100,000).

The best part of Barrington’s adventure isthat you will be able to track his progressonline in real-time thanks to Microsoft andSky Connect LLC. The latter is a small com-pany that has installed over 2,000 satellitetracking and voice systems for general avia-tion aircraft. SkyConnect has suppliedBarrington with such a tracking system(without cost) to help make the online track-ing feature a reality. Microsoft Web designerswill use the data captured from the trackingsystem, translate it and then populate anonline map with Barrington’s position, speed,direction, and altitude.

Ophelia Valls, Esq. and Armando Alonso, Esq.Trainers-Management Resources Institute

Lt. Gonzalez & Lt. SuarezCity of Miami Fire Rescue

Armando Alonso, Esq.Trainer

T R A I N E R S

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ELIZABETH “LISA” JOSEPH ALONZO MOURNING CHARIT IES

New Generation Summer Institute, Level II, Class of 2010

Lisa Joseph is a twelve-year veteran of public and community relations as well as market-ing and non-profit management. She has vast experience in a wide range of PR and market-ing disciplines, including but not limited to consumer, event, non-profit and sports market-ing.

Lisa began her career working as the Director of Event Marketing and Public Relations forAlonzo Mourning Charities, Inc. managing fundraising events for the foundation, and han-dling local and national publicity efforts for NBA All-star center Alonzo Mourning. In 2002,AM Charities’ mission expanded into building youth enrichment centers and launched thecommunity-renowned establishment, the Overtown Youth Center. Lisa’s support continued,serving as OYC’s Development Director in which she assumed day-to-day management offundraising and donor cultivation. She was also responsible for building alliances with localand national corporations to garner support for the foundation and organize the strategic pro-gram and development structure.

With her experience in sports marketing, since 2004, Lisa has also managed the career ofNBA All-star and MVP Dwyane Wade. Aside from handling appearances, community involve-ment and PR efforts, she is also heavily involved in the advertising campaigns and manage-ment of his major endorsement deals including Converse, Jordan Brand, Gatorade, andPepperidge Farm.

Lisa has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication from the University ofMiami and a Master’s degree in Communication from Florida International University. She isa proud advisory board member of Honey Shine, Inc., a foundation tailored to meet the needsof young minority women in the community.

She is now the founder and President of The Elle Agency, LLC, and a public relationsagency specialized in branding, non-profit management, and communications. Lisa was fea-tured in 2009’s edition of Success South Florida

Magazine’s “40 under 40 Leaders of Today and Tomorrow.” Born in New York City andraised in Miami, she currently lives in Miami Gardens.

Michell Amaya

Pedro Cerrate

Maribel Blanco

Angelo Arrieta

Cecile Chery

Luis Camejo

Edrik Bandez

Danisha Cotton

Djerry Cassamajor

Elizabeth Bello

Michael De Hann

Ashley Cerrate

C L A S S O F 2 0 1 0

Faboila DorvilAlicha Desir Roosevelt Desir Gabriella Deza

Jasmine Hepburn

Wanda Fritz

Jasjuan Duggins

Lissi Garcia Rey

Ariana Ellis

Salomon Genard

Quavanda Flowers

Shaniyah George

Ericka Francios

C L A S S O F 2 0 1 0

Olivia Goedde Maria Guiterrez Antionette Hall

Orientation Epcot 2010 Business Plan Preparaton

Ornella Louis

Antonyca Joseph

Tatayna Marshall

Manouchka Joseph

Janesha Martinez

David Lindor

Gordine Mathurin

Johani Londono

C L A S S O F 2 0 1 0

Jhon Matos Sakari Moore Benita Okeke Isabel Portillo

Preventive Pregnancy Workshop Leadership Workshop Performance Preparation

Pierre Sharmene

Rolando Ramirez

Issis Stives

Carlos Rigali

Laiyen Suarez

Brodquell Rouse

Marilyn Thomas

Jessica Sanchez

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Cindy Torres Timothy Tyson Nosomi Valentin Fu Zikeria Wallace

Business Suit Fitting

Mirizza MenendezCareer Center D i rec tor

Raymond AdrianDirec tor of Operat ions

Waleska E. CondeProgram Coord inator

S T A F F T R A I N E R S

NelsonSantiagoEAR-Q

Ophelia M. VallsManagementResources

ArmandoAlonsoManagementResources

OfeliaSanchezManagementResources

Katherine HernandezTeam Leader

Roselyn Ortega Counse lor

Gisel ShullCounse lor

Jackie BrunoHuman R e s o u r c e s C o o r d .

Sandie FarreauTeam Leader

Wanda Jimenez Program Ass i s tant

ESSIE "BIG MAMA" REEDCOMMUNITY ORGANIZER

LESLY VIERAORGULLO DE NUESTRA JUVENTUD

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While it is often said that it takes a village to raise a child, the tables have been turnedin the case of one caring Fort Lauderdale resident. Ms. Essie Reed, known to all as "BigMama", is busy helping raise many of "the village's" less fortunate children.

Big Mama has three sons of her own, Christopher, Brennan, and Sam. The Reed fami-ly experienced hard times of its own after being abandoned by the boys' father whenChristopher was only one month old. "We lived in a fish market for a while," says Sam,"so we know what it's like to have no home." Brennan added, "Our experience made usrealize how important it is to help others in need." All three of Big Mama's sons help inmany ways, from directing the Boys' Step Team and running errands to driving neighbor-hood kids to school each day.

Big Mama and her extended family are members of the Royal Assembly Church of theLiving, located at 1964 Sistrunk Blvd. Bishop L.W. Williams and other parishioners haveboth given and received support from Big Mama's Team of Life organization, and theChurch serves as the location for many of the organization's events.

During a recent visit, Big Mama told me about some of her most memorable andrewarding experiences. "The church owned a fast food outlet on Broward Blvd where wetaught many of our kid’s useful job skills. After a long day at work, we would wake theBishop at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. He would open the Church for us, and we wouldalways take time to pray before going home. It touched my heart to see how sincere thosechildren's prayers were."

Among her many civic awards, Big Mama was honored as Community Activist of theYear 2001 by the Vanguard Chronicle.

A senior at Mater Academy High School who faced her own battle with cancer whocoordinated Locks of Love, finishing her chemotherapy in December has inspired the entireschool community.

Last December, Lesly started feeling pain in her back. A belly dancer, she figured shehad pulled a muscle. However, when the pain persisted, Lesly and her mother went to thehospital. It was then the doctors discovered a tumor wedged between Lesly’s heart andher lungs. It was the size of a small lemon. The teenager began chemotherapy immedi-ately.

Lesly stayed home from school. She took classes online and over the phone. Despiteher missing approximately 4 months of school, she will be graduating top 10% of herclass; she won el “Orgullo de Nuestra Juventud” Award and is the Nominee for the SilverAward in English. Lesly attended classes as often as she could — even during the weekswhen she had chemotherapy. In the spring, Lesly kept up with her membership in theNational Honor Society. She even aced her Advanced Placement exams in psychology andEnglish despite having missed four months of school. The tests are among the most diffi-cult a high-school student can take.

In April, Lesly had a revelation: She wanted to go back to school. The cancer is nowin remission. She has her mind set on attending Nova Southeastern University — and then

F I E L D T R I PE P C O T — O R L A N D O , F L O R I D A

Lee LunaPrimerica

Cynthia DemosCBS4 Anchor Woman

Honorable Judge Gayles Georgia McLean, HumanResources - Mt. Sinai Hospital

Miguel Del Campillo, Directorof the MB Housing Authority

S P E A K E R S

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THE SOUTH FLORIDA WORKFORCE IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYMENT/PROGRAM. AUXILIARY AIDS AND SERVICES ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES.

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S P E C I A L T H A N K S T O :

Wil l iam T. Turner Tech High Schoo l

Miami Beach Sen ior H igh

Hia leah Gardens Sen ior H igh

West Dade Career Center

Nor ths ide Career Center

Susana and Car los Bus Ser v i ce

Advantage Bus Ser v i ce

Car los O lmos , Graphikmar