3 Masco Grads Awarded TTC Youth Scholarships

Tri-Town Council (TTC) is honored to announce the 2023 Tri-Town Council Youth Scholarship award recipients. Annually, TTC’s board and supporters form the scholarship selection committee and award $500 scholarships to 3 Masconomet seniors from Boxford, Middleton and Topsfield. Award recipients demonstrate healthy decision making, community service and have worked directly with Tri-Town Council during their high school years as a youth volunteer, mentor or program participant.

Girls4Girls (G4G) mentor and Topsfield scholarship recipient Hillary Maxwell understands how important building relationships is. TTC’s Girls4Girls program, in its 8th year, matches high school aged girls with girls in 5th and 6th grade who meet regularly afterschool. The G4G meetings, run at the 3 Tri-Town upper elementary schools by elementary teacher partners, provide opportunities for friendship and connection. Serving as a TTC Girls4Girls mentor since her sophomore year, Hillary reflected, “Girls 4 Girls has allowed me to make personal relationships that I will take beyond high school.” With the mentors planning and organizing the after-school meetings, Hillary saw her confidence and communication skills grow. With a plan to study marketing and minor in publishing and editing, Hillary will attend Fairfield University in the fall, and take the valuable lessons and experiences of being a mentor, leader, and friend with her.

Scholarship recipient and musician Pearce Deal of Boxford is a founding member of the Tri-Town Rock Band, an inclusive performing pop-rock ensemble comprised of youth in grades 6-12 with disabilities who are interested in learning and performing pop and rock music. Since forming in 2016, middle and high school youth work alongside band participants as mentors and musicians. Under the tutelage of director Andrea Monty, together, the band has been breaking down barriers and bringing opportunities to experience the joy of musical performance to more and more middle and highschoolers. The band has performed at the Topsfield Fair, Arc of the Northshore, Danvers YMCA and at many more local and community festivals and events. In his 7 years of being part of the band, Pearce played drums, guitar and served as a youth mentor. Pearce shares that his “passion outside of engineering is music and finding ways to give back to his community.” He is proud of his “role in building the Tri-Town Rock Band”, and used his musical and engineering skills to serve as the sound engineer at band rehearsals and performances. Pearce is headed to Worcester Polytechnic Institute to study aerospace engineering.

Middleton graduate and award recipient Sophia Huang connected with TTC programs as a volunteer tutor in TTC’s virtual tutoring program. Started in the summer of 2020, when the challenges of virtual learning revealed a need for academic support and enrichment, TTC recruited and trained highschool youth who wanted to hone their skills and give back to their community. Sophia, as an enthusiastic 9th grader, signed up and served as a tutor through her junior year. Sophia supported the youth she worked with by discovering their strengths and helping to build their confidence by using creative ways to support their learning. She used flashcards and interactive games to reinforce concepts and used her resources to prepare herself for each session. Moving to the Tri-Town as a middleschooler, Sophia appreciated getting involved and serving her community through TTC programs, not only as a tutor, but also as a high school youth leader and Open gym participant and volunteer. Headed to UMass Amherst in the fall to study biology on the pre-dental track, Sophia will savor her experience and what makes the Tri-Town special.

Congratulations to the our three scholarship recipients! Wishing you all the best as you continue your learning and embark on your next academic adventure!