‘No reason to not go for it’
Two local teens start an education nonprofit from scratch
GREENWICH — Greenwich High School juniors Sameera Madan and Jacklyn Pizzella were talking on FaceTime when they solidified the idea to create their nonprofit — Leaders of the Next Generation.
“I was like, ‘Wait, Jackie. What if we do this?’ ” Madan said.
Leaders of the Next Generation is a nonprofit that focuses on environmental awareness and providing youth access to education, which are two issues Madan and Pizzella are passionate about.
“We took (Madan’s) interest for the environment and my interest for helping children and merged it into one — give children education, specifically with the environment,” Pizzella, 17, said.
Pizzella and Madan said they met while sitting at the same table last school year in their Advanced Placement United States history course and became friends while working on a project together.
Both students were already involved in the community from internships, volunteering and joining and leading school clubs, but they decided to make the leap to create their own nonprofit because they wanted to “do so much more” for the community.
“I just thought the potential to do something so much bigger was just there and there’s no reason to not go for it,” Madan, 16, said.
So in July, the two decided to launch Leaders of the Next Generation to encourage young people to create “a sustainable future” through community programs, involvement and advocacy, according to the organization’s mission statement.
The message resonated with classmates, friends, friends of friends and family: Leaders of the Next Generation now has around 20 volunteers and 13 ambassadors. Volunteers help with programs and events; ambassadors help organize events and fundraisers, implement the nonprofit’s initiatives in the community and more.
By September, the organization had kicked off its first program — free tutoring for students in Stamford Public Schools. Madan and Pizzella coordinated the effort that now includes around 25 people who are tutoring students in subjects spanning from math to English to about 30 students ages 5 to 13.
While offering the service, the two high schoolers say they know their limitations.
“We also want to keep (tutoring) in the area we know how to tutor, so too young we definitely don’t know how to teach them the very basics and also too old, we don’t know how to teach calculus,” Madan said.
Most of the ambassadors live in Greenwich, but one each lives in California, Florida and Massachusetts
Madan and Pizzella said that two of the out-ofstate ambassadors are family friends, but the person who lives in Florida asked to get involved by reaching out on Instagram. Now, these ambassadors are bringing Leaders of the Next Generation to their communities.
They are “sharing our story and our message there,” Pizzella said.
Madan and Pizzella have a lot in store for Leaders of the Next Generation in the new year. Right now, they are planning an event at the Greenwich Audubon Center that they said they hope to hold in February that targets their other passion: protecting the environment.
The organization’s recycling program, Green Guardians, asks people to donate recyclable items. At the Audubon Center event, the plan is to use the collected items to teach kids the beauty of re-purposing recyclables.
“We’re going to want to teach kids how to use recycling, but through fun arts and crafts, so we’re going to have this event and we’ve collected recycling ... (Ambassadors) are going to have stands there and one could be like using recycling to make a bird feeder,” Pizzella said.
Along with that, the pair are planning more fundraisers, a book event and more. Madan and Pizzella said coming up with new program ideas and ways to get the community involved “is fun for” them, which is why they are able to balance schoolwork, extracurriculars and running a nonprofit. They said dreaming about the future of the organization is motivating.
“Even the smallest things we do, it is helping someone,” Madan said. “The tutoring — I do not think we thought we would get 30 kids so soon ... All these people are getting impacted in such a good way.”
The two admitted their passion project is hard work and that they are learning about “how the real world works,” including how much it costs to enhance the organization and its mission. One of their first projects was to incorporate.
Leaders of the Next Generation held its first bake sale last month to raise money for state incorporation, the duo said. Pizzella and Madan raised $565 through the fundraiser and then, to pay for the cost to be Connecticut registered, they also each contributed around $400.
“I’ve learned about the real world,” Pizzella said. “I live in this bubble of like Greenwich High School ... Things like expenses, we have to create a Google Sheet to keep track of everything and I am understanding ‘Oh, money.’ I understand it runs the world and I have to be cautious of that.”
Even though the two have another year left of high school, they said they are already thinking ahead to the future of Leaders of the Next Generation. They plan to keep it a youth-led organization by recruiting younger students to help encourage and empower the “the next generation.”
“It’s definitely for the long-term,” Pizzella said about the nonprofit.