NHS Existence Resistance

Maddy Albee: I am a sophomore at Newtown High School. Some of my interests include running and music. Throughout my high school career thus far, I have worked hard on incorporating empathy in my everyday life. Whether it is cheering on a fellow runner, teaching music to younger children, or helping out a classmate with school material, I always try to work with an empathetic lens. A large reason why I support this project is due to the overarching feeling of empathy. I feel that much of the public is not aware of the risk of antibiotic resistance, but it is a very prevalent issue. The threat of antibiotic resistance is ever growing, and if we act now to fix the problem, the future generations will thank us.

Mallory Bolesta: I am currently a junior at Newtown High School. Currently I’m working on creating a campaign and organization to help promote young women and men to help put an end to Women’s Underrepresentation. Also, I spent most of my high school career dealing with a long list of infectious diseases, so Antibiotic Resistance I have been exposed to. I think our project will do lots of good and hopefully will prevent more people from getting sick. I’m back full time now in school and working super hard in hopes to be accepted into the University of Maryland. There I hope to get my PhD in medical/clinical science.

Peter Buck: I am a senior at Newtown High school. Some of my interests include fishing and model trains. Throughout the course of my life I’ve heard many people talk about empathy (the ability to step into someone else’s shoes and understand their values, beliefs, and emotions). I know empathy is one of my strong skills and I want to instill it in people. I want people to be aware of empathy because it is so essential to our health and daily lives. Healthy kids make healthy adults.

Sam Czel: I am a senior at Newtown High School. I am the captain of the boys varsity baseball team. I also am a camp counselor for my local town park for children. I apply empathy greatly to my everyday life in dealing with many different types of people; having to understand how they feel or their side of ideas. I was not aware of antibiotic resistance until the topic came up in my Public Health class at NHS. In having done research and talking about this epidemic with my classmates, I have learned about the severity of the topic, and want to notify the public about the issues this problem creates.

Cary DeYoung: I am a senior at Newtown High School. Some of my passions include psychology, mountaineering and skiing. I plan to go into psychology and the field of mental health. I am fascinated with perception and the various factors that create it. I have had the great opportunity of working with various non profit organizations such as The Avielle Foundation that works on many corners of mental health such as understanding the areas in the brain that lead to malevolent behaviors. Through my college career I plan to continue my journey into the understanding of mental health and perception.

Valerie Kady: I am a senior at Newtown High School. I have heard about antibiotic resistance before, but I never really thought much about this terrible issue, until I was doing a volunteer/work program at Danbury Hospital. I shadowed a CNR (nurse who took care of the patients), so this meant I got to look into patients' rooms and see different types of patients in various conditions. Many of these patients were bedridden with MRSA, a bacteria that was multidrug resistant. We had to put on gowns and gloves in order to enter these patients' rooms, because of the high risk of catching this infection (MRSA can be transferred from skin to skin contact). I came to the realization that there were many patients who were now in the hospital for totally something different than they came in with. This is a part of the reason why I feel that we need to fix the problem of antibiotic resistance. Although we may not have the answer, the very first step is by informing our fellow peers and teachers about this prevalent issue.

Mackenzie Page: I am senior at Newtown High School. I am passionate about volunteer work and have created a fundraiser in Newtown to benefit the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, Paul Newman’s summer camp for kids living with serious illnesses. I also sit as a Board Member at Newtown Youth and Family Services, Newtown’s largest mental health service. Empathy has been weaved into my life since I can remember; I have always enjoyed helping others, and I find it rewarding to give back to my community whenever I can. This project is exciting to me because it allows me to educate the surrounding area about a topic that is incredibly important but commonly misunderstood.

Colin Patrick: I am a senior at Newtown High School.  I’m a mentor and tutor in the REACH Newtown program as well as the captain of the Varsity Boys Golf team.  Working with kids in the REACH program has taught me how to understand people’s emotion in order to better help them.  I was very excited to hear that the theme for this year’s convention was empathy.  The topic of antibiotic resistance is seen in our everyday lives and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to make a difference.

Jackie Seras: Newtown High School sophomore that enjoys playing volleyball, hanging out with friends, and constantly watching wrestling. My diverse pastimes help me view things with an overarching mentality. This mentality allows me to empathetic to specific things and work to create things that can be universally understood. This project is significant to me because the threat of antibiotic resistance has many challenges in medical, social and economic terms. The issue is universal and understanding it involves many different aspects. This includes empathy because it requires one to understand the issue as a whole, and how it relates to not only the global population, but even my family. For that reason, this project is not only important, but I also find it interesting.