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Celebrating the Â鶹ÊÓƵ LA AmeriCorps Class of 2021

Earlier this month we graduated our 2020-2021 AmeriCorps class, marking the end of our 14th year of service in Los Angeles.

This year’s corps stepped up for their students like never before. Together, they served more than 300,000 hours in virtual classrooms, helping close the learning gap presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring that thousands of students’ social-emotional needs were met just as much as their academic ones. The impact that this group of individuals have created for their students will surely ripple on for years to come.

Our graduation celebration was emceed by AmeriCorps members Aysia-Marie Perkins from our team at  and Andres Gutierrez, who served on our team at .

During the event, Tai Daniels, who served as a project leader on our , gave the AmeriCorps member keynote address, and Esmeralda Balvaneda Ponce, who served at , presented special corps member remarks. .

Those in attendance also heard from Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles Board Co-Chair Mattie McFadden-Lawson, Community School Coordinator at 93rd Street Elementary School Ingrid Villeda and our special guest, actor and comedian Kenan Thompson.

This year’s awards were presented by Michelle Ferrari, our director of AmeriCorps member experience, Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles Co-Founder and Chair Emeritus, Andrew Hauptman, Head of Casting for NBC Universal and City Lear Los Angeles Board Member, Grace Wu, and the Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lani Manos. Check out the complete list of winners below: 

Bronfman Hauptman​ Leadership Award Winners

Jordan Cruz

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Ariana Fisher

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

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Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Josh Polanco

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Valerie Nicole Villafana

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Leadership Award, presented by Comcast NBCUniversal

Caleb Codding

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Innovative Enrichment Award, presented by Disney

Storyteller of the Year Award, presented by Sony

Jacqueline Guzman

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Power Award Winners

Melanie Corral

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Dinah Muhammad

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Claudia Hernandez

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Irene Romero

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Diana Correa

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Shantel Green

Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member,

Congratulations to our winners and the entire Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps Class of 2021. Your tenacity and dedication to serving your students won’t soon be forgotten.

Couldn’t make it to the event?

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