The Rye Youth Council has served the Rye community since 1963. Their services are provided to students and their families in Rye public and private schools, including Resurrection and Rye Country Day School.
The Rye Youth Council has served the Rye community since 1963. Their services are provided to students and their families in Rye public and private schools, including Resurrection and Rye Country Day School.
Here is a brief introduction on their programs and staff.
Rye High School
Casey Carlucci DeCola (cdecola@ryeyouthcouncil.org)
Director of Teen Services and Rye Youth Council High School Youth Advocate
Paulette Mann and Maureen Fearon (pmann@ryeyouthcouncil.org)
Rye Youth Council Players Coordinators
Steve Nava (snava@ryeyouthcouncil.org)
Wildside Manager
Sandy Jacoby sjacoby@ryeyouthcouncil.org
Rye Youth Employment Services
High school students return to school refreshed, renewed, and enthusiastic. The Youth Council is ready to provide programming. Their programs seek to harness students’ energy and eagerness and give them opportunities to develop and grow. RYC is looking forward to building on the wonderful programs they have offered in the past while continuing to look ahead and keep on top of current trends affecting the adolescent population locally, nationally, and globally.
Here are some of their current offerings.
- Adopt A Grandfriend is a collaboration of RHS students and residents of the MLH Building and Memory Care Center at Wartburg Nursing Home in Mount Vernon.
- Teaching for Change, an experiential learning program, allows RHS students to practice their language skills by teaching English to migrant workers and their family members. The students also work at a second-grade bilingual class at the Edison School in Port Chester.
- The Student Awareness club works to address various social issues in the school, the community, and globally.
- The Friendship Project trains Rye High students to work with third graders at Milton School. The younger children learn how to handle sticky situations and about tolerance, acceptance, honesty, diversity, pride, and friendship.
- SPRYE brings Rye teens together with SPRYE (Staying Put in Rye and Environs) members. It helps grow seniors’ technology skills and develop relationships across the years.
- High School Diversity Workshops are available to RHS students, as well as students from other Westchester communities. The day consists of a series of dialogues across group lines to talk about the personal impact of prejudice and discrimination.
- RYE YOUTH COUNCIL PLAYERS, an improvisational drama group, provides programs for Rye City schools and other Sound Shore communities.
- WILDSIDE, an alcohol-free club, provides music, refrehments, and social activities for high school students in cooperation with Rye Recreation.
- Rye Youth Council Employment Service assists students as they seek employment within Rye and surrounding communities. Over 1,400 students have signed up for our services.
- Scholarship Awards are given to graduating seniors. The Rye Youth Council sponsors ten awards and hosts a breakfast where the winners and finalists, as well as Rye Youth Council club members, are publicly recognized.
“We work with the youth to utilize experiential learning programs (where they are given opportunities to practice skills they have acquired in real life situations), offering speakers and workshops on topics that impact the adolescent population today (stress; coping skills; teen dating violence/controlling relationships; alcohol and drug use and experimentation; body image issues; and a host of other topics), as well as bringing teens to conferences where they meet with other teens from across Westchester County to discuss issues critical to adolescent development.”
RYE MIDDLE SCHOOL and RESURRECTION SCHOOL
Sara Braun (sbraun@ryeyouthcouncil.org)
Rye Youth Council Middle School Youth Advocate
Middle school is an exciting but sometimes turbulent time of life. The Rye Youth Council programs and services that are offered at the middle school level are designed to offer support and guidance.
- GIRLS CLUB is comprised of eighth-grade girls and committed to gender equality and helping girls worldwide.
- Anti-Bullying Lunch Group for 6th-Grade Boys meets weekly to talk about bullying in school and how it can be reduced.
- Girls Social Support Lunch Groups meet twice a week for each grade of middle school girls to talk through social challenges and get support.
- Facilitating School-Wide Assemblies on topics related to diversity and acceptance. This year, “Prom Night in Mississippi” about racial desegregation was shown and discussed with the entire 7th and 8th grade classes
• Rye Middle School-wide Diversity Day is designed to help middle school students understand the issues of diversity, tolerance, and acceptance.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Stephanie Low (slow@ryeyouthcouncil.org)
Rye Youth Council Elementary School Youth Advocate
The elementary school programs focus on the social and emotional lives of children, helping them to learn how to work cooperatively with others, develop strategies for solving problems, and enhance communication skills. The Youth Council assists schools to create inclusive environments and to deal effectively with teasing and bullying.
- Classroom sessions are held in Milton, Midland, and Osborn schools. Each third and fourth grade class receives sessions for 12-15 weeks, for 45 minutes to an hour. RYC works closely with the teachers and the administration to specifically address concerns they have with the social dynamics of a class. They also provide sessions as requested with first-, second-, and fifth-grade classes.
- Parent Support Groups are organized to talk about developmental norms, the social and emotional growth of children, and ways to assist children to tackle the relationship dynamics/struggles in their lives.
- Parent Education Seminars are developed on specific topics requested by the PTO, parents, or school district staff.
- Character Education Consultation is offered to individual schools to help formulate activities, review curriculum, and develop programming.
The Rye Youth Council is a vital community resource, whose staff and board work tirelessly to provide relevant programming and services to the community.
The Rye Youth Council offices are located at 21 Locust Avenue. Judy Secon, Executive Director, can be reached at jsecon@ryeyouthcouncil.org or 967-3838.
