Last week, Esperanza Academy Charter High School juniors Sarah Santiago and Yiahelys Ramirez-Cabrera were honored with the Good Citizenship Award at Good Citizen Day at The Heritage Center of the Union League of Philadelphia. This award is presented to 280 young men and women who have demonstrated marked evidence of good citizenship, without regard to race, color, creed, gender, or political background.
In 1946, the Union League established The Youth Work Committee to demonstrate that the love of country motivates young people to be mature, responsible citizens. Each year, The Youth Work Committee works with around fifty community agencies across the Greater Philadelphia Area to help identify high school juniors to receive the Union League’s Good Citizenship Award. At the annual Good Citizen Day, which our students participated in, award recipients have the opportunity to attend presentations and workshops focused on aspects of good citizenship including special programs at the Federal Court House and exploring the different branches of government.
Sarah Santiago belongs to the National Honor Society at Esperanza Academy and works closely with the Student Government. While she has won many awards during her high school career, she has most recently won the Penn Law Essay on Race and Identity at the Penn Law Youth Symposium, is the Editor of the school newspaper, and and worked with ADL’s No Place for Hate initiative. She was nominated by her Social Studies teacher Jonathan Young who said of his star pupil, “Sarah is just an amazing student and the future face of the next crop of national Hispanic leaders.
Yiahelys is a dedicated student who always helps her classmates when they are in need of academic or personal assistance. She was nominated by her Social Studies teacher Julie Ufberg who said of her star pupil, “Yiahelys is a dedicated student who is careful in her classwork and assignments and always strives to do her best.”
We are so proud of all of our students who continually exemplify good citizenship and exhibit excellence in everything they do. Congratulations Sarah and Yiahelys!