Help Fund Vivia's Leadership Experience

Vivia is a 5th-grade student at Lafayette Elementary School. She lives in Lancaster City with her mom and her younger sister. At school, she serves as a Lion Ambassador, where she takes pride in setting examples for her peers as a leader, companion, and scholar. She also participates in weekly cello lessons and takes on a role in her school’s annual musical! Outside of school, Vivia plays competitive soccer on a traveling team. She dedicates herself to soccer almost all year round while also maintaining focus on her academic performance at school.

Vivia was nominated by her music teacher to attend the Junior National Young Leaders Conference to be held in Washington, D.C. during the summer of 2025. Vivia was nominated for this experience due to her achieved academic excellence, leadership qualities, and overall potential. This opportunity will allow Vivia to experience and discover how to enhance her leadership skills. She will attend interactive workshops, group simulations, and historical site visits. During this 5-day trip, she will join other 5th graders from around the country for the educational experience of a lifetime. Washington, D.C. will serve as a living classroom, providing amazing experiences in and around our nation’s capital. She’ll be immersed in a curriculum of activities and explorations that focus on the high-stakes world of politics while modeling how history and current events shape our government and world.

While rooming at the University of Maryland, Vivia will be taught using a curriculum developed by Dr. Sikorsky, a former scientist, educator, and curriculum development specialist with over 20 years of experience. The goal of the program is to introduce Vivia and her selected peers to the important concepts of leadership that will prepare them for overall success: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills. Students will examine leadership in a historical context, focus on applying critical leadership skills in their own lives, and explore ways to make a difference when they return home to their schools and communities.

If you’re fortunate enough to know Vivia, you know just how much she loves history, leadership, and culture. She loves learning and has a true passion for understanding important and difficult concepts and events in history.

We are starting this fundraiser in hopes to raise the full tuition amount for the conference. Vivia would love to attend this conference and she is persistent in raising the money to help alleviate me of the financial burden - again, if you know Vivia, you know she has a true appreciation for how hard I work, as a single mother, to provide for her. She immediately asked me to organize this account for her so that she can begin planning her trip and writing personal letters of gratitude to each of her contributors.

“I will appreciate and be happy to receive whatever people donate to me. It means a lot because I am really looking forward to this trip. It is very special to me for them to consider helping out.” - Vivia Reese