Congratulations Danny!

Danny was recently elected to his Student Council as one of 2 people to represent each class.  He was elected by his classmates, what an honor - Congrats Danny!

Danny, working hard on a presentation for Social Studies.

"They chose me for Student Council first by calling all the Presidents of all the different classes and all the representatives from each class.  Then they gave us a talk about what our responsibilities would be.  Then all the representatives of each class had to pick 2 students for the Presidency in each class and they picked me and a friend who is the sports representative.  The next day we had a meeting for all those chosen for the student council and the guidance counselor explained that we wouldn't have the power of President or Vice-President, but that we could be representatives for the class."

~Danny Zambrano, Guasmo

Danny and the rest of his Starfish friends - the morning group in Guasmo!

"Me cogieron en el consejo estudiantil de la forma que llamaron a los presidentes de cada curso y a los otros vocales de cada presidente de cada curso.  Luego nos dieron la charla de como deberían ser nuestras responsabilidades.  Después cada undo de los vocales de cada curso deberían de coger dos alumnos de la Presidencia de cada curso y de ahi me cogió a mí y a un amigo que es vocal de deportes.  El siguiente día tuvimos una reunión de los escogidos para el consejo estudiantil y el profesor de orientación dijo que no pudimos tener los cargos de Presidente y Vice-Presidente, solo pudimos ser los vocales."

~Danny Zambrano, Guasmo

Thank you, Emily C. Specchio Foundation!

Co-founders Jenn Zocco and Beth Awalt have been selected as the 2012 Emily C. Specchio Foundation Ambassadors.

We are so appreciative of this opportunity. Throughout the next year, the Emily C. Specchio Foundation will provide Starfish with mentorship, an initial monetary award and a matching grant - totaling up to $8,500 at most! Beth and Jenn are busy putting together speaker's kits and promo videos for upcoming speaking engagements.

To learn more about the program, visit http://emilycspecchiofoundation.org/wordpress/ambassador-program. Let any Virginia Tech students know that there are opportunities for them as well! Emily had a great passion for social justice, especially abroad, and we are honored to be chosen to represent her foundation this year.

Make sure to check out the video from A Night with an Angel 2012, featuring many past and present scholarship winners, as well as The Emily C. Specchio Foundation webpage, to learn more about or donate to the organization.

Meet Emily Specchio...

Emily was truly an amazing and inspirational person. She always had a huge smile on her face and had a fantastic sense of humor. Her laugh was infectious and her passions in life were many.

Born on September 3, 1984 in Morristown, NJ, Emily lived the majority of her life in Chester, NJ where she attended Chester public schools and Mendham High School. After graduating from Mendham in 2002, Emily started her college career at Virginia Tech. She truly flourished at VT and became very involved in many charitable organizations. She pledged Phi Sigma Pi national honor fraternity (PSP) in 2004. Emily absolutely loved both Virginia Tech and her fraternity, and embodied their virtues of Scholarship, Leadership, and Service. Through PSP, Emily raised money and participated in Relay for Life, helped tutor children at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School, helped clean and beautify Virginia Tech’s duck pond, and helped raise money towards PSP’s national charity, Teach for America. Outside of the fraternity, Emily was also very active in the Foundation for Peace, travelling twice to the Dominican Republic to help improve the water quality and health in the areas surrounding Santo Domingo. In addition, Emily was an extremely talented pianist and artist.

Emily graduated magna cum laude from Virginia Tech University on May 13th, 2006. She was a Marketing major in the Pamplin College of Business and had already begun taking graduate courses her senior year at VT. She passed away suddenly and unexpectedly two days later of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. She will forever be missed, yet touched so many people during her 21 years of life. The mission of the Emily Specchio foundation is to celebrate the life of Emily by following her inspirational lead in continuing to support charitable organizations close to her heart. An endowed scholarship at Virginia Tech has been created in her name to give annual scholarships to students with similar interests and passions.

http://emilycspecchiofoundation.org

This year, Beth and Jenn have been selected for the Emily C. Specchio Ambassador Program! We really appreciate the mission of the Emily C. Specchio Foundation (http://emilycspecchiofoundation.org/wordpress/mission-statement), and we are excited to work with Marco and the rest of the staff at Emily C. Specchio Foundation this year. Jenn and Beth's experiences in Latin America, working for non-profit organizations and passion for The Starfish Foundation lend themselves naturally to the Ambassador Program. Stay tuned for more updates on Beth's speaking engagements this fall, our fundraising goals, and our experience with the Emily C. Specchio Foundation! To find out more, click here: http://emilycspecchiofoundation.org/wordpress/ambassador-program.