Jaiven Gonzalez, Elevate Board Member Tom Colatosti, Nancy Colatosti, Angelina Sun, Elevate Executive Director Rhea Gordon

by Jen Myers

Angelina Sun, who graduated from Lowell High School earlier this month said she learned a valuable lesson about the meaning of leadership by participating in Elevate New England.

“It’s not about being in charge, it’s about being in service,” she told fellow graduates and their families at Elevate New England’s graduation celebration at the Shedd Park Pavilion on June 20.

Elevate is an elective at LHS and The Career Academy that provides classes in leadership, character building, college & career readiness, as well as an opportunity to participate in community improvement projects, including working in classrooms with younger students.

Sun became involved in Elevate her junior year and spent that summer as an intern at the Bartlett Community Partnership School. She co-founded the Elevate Leaders Club, participated in National Honors Society, and the Early College Independence program, as well as working on a social media campaign for the Work-Based Learning Alliance, an organization committed to providing equitable, accessible, sustainable work-based learning for high school students.

“If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be standing here today confidently talking about leadership, mentorship, and growth I would have smiled politely, but I wouldn’t have believed them,” Sun said. “Elevate taught me about character, about being passionate, about being the kind of person who helps clear someone else’s path.”

“I was always a person who believed that I couldn’t make an impact, but Elevate changed that for me,” Sun added. “In fact, I would say I have been elevated in every sense of the word.”

Sun, who will be attending Middlesex Community College in the fall as a Diagnostic Medical Sonography major and fellow graduate Jaiven Gonzalez, who will be attending UMass Lowell as a pre-med student in the Honors College studying Applied Biomedical Sciences, were each awarded $5,000 scholarships from the Rhea Gordon Scholarship Fund. The scholarship, named in honor of Elevate New England’s Executive Director Rhea Gordon, is funded by board member Tom Colatosti and his wife Nancy.

Elevate Executive Director Rhea Gordon, Garlens Suffrin, Career Academy Community School Program Manager Jen Tarini, Career Academy Principal Megan O’Loughlin

In addition to Elevate’s staff and board members, the graduates were also joined by State Rep. Vanna Howard, The Career Academy Principal Megan O’Loughlin and Community School Program Manager Jen Tarini, and Director of the Student Resource Center Dr. Lauren Campion.

The 81 Elevate mentees that graduated this year are off to pursue their dreams. One has enlisted in the U.S. Air Force; other are off to colleges including: Merrimack College, Middlesex Community College, Gordon College, Northern Essex Community College, Bunker Hill Community College, Johnson & Wales University, UMass Lowell, and the Wentworth Institute of Technology; while others are off to vocational programs in culinary, plumbing, electrical, aviation, HVAC, and welding, or to work in the automotive, childcare, healthcare, or hospitality industries.

“As you step beyond high school and into the next chapter of your journey, know this – you are never alone,” said Elevate Executive Director Rhea Gordon. “The relationships you’ve built, the mentors who have walked beside you and the community that believes in you, they are still here and always will be. They are cheering you on and they are willing to walk with you through whatever comes next. You are living proof of the Elevate belief that no one gets there alone.”

Erick Rodriguez Rivera and Teacher-Mentor Roeuth Lan

“Show up for others the way people have shown up for you,” she advised the graduates.

The scholarship awards did not stop with those granted to Sun and Gonzalez. Two $1,000 scholarships were given to Erick Rodriguez Rivera and Joel Njenga in honor of founding Elevate board members Theresa Littauer and Carolyn Breen.

Erick Rodriguez Rivera graduated from LHS in 2024 and is currently studying at the National Aviation Academy in West Concord to become an airplane mechanic.

He reflected on all of the great adventures he had with Elevate teacher-mentors like camping, hiking, laser tag, and tubing, and the close relationships they formed.

Beyond the fun and team building activities, Rodriguez Rivera said Elevate helped him to find his voice.

Elevate Teacher-Mentor Xahn Frater, Joel Njenga, Elevate Program Manager Elizabeth Cheung

“I learned to be more courageous in speaking up and voicing my concerns,” he said, adding he found himself speaking up in class, doing oral presentations, and taking a leadership role when he volunteered at the food pantry.

Njenga will study Automotive Engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology in the fall.

In a new and very exciting twist this year – three Elevate mentees were awarded full four-year scholarships to Gordon College.

The recipients are: Career Academy graduate Garlens Suffrin, who will be studying Computer Science and AI; LHS graduate Mell Silva, who will be studying Digital Marketing and Communications; and LHS graduate Gabriella Godoi, who will enter the Accelerated Nursing Program and plans to become a Nurse Anesthetist.

Because one of the driving principles of Elevate is finding ways to give back to the community, Levenia Furusa, Executive Director at Dwelling House of Hope was on hand to receive the $200 the students raised through a basketball tournament they ran.

“Elevate has become family to Dwelling House of Hope,” Furusa said, adding that students have been a big help in packing boxes of food from their pantry to be delivered to elderly clients. “Thank you for giving back to the community.”

Jaiven Gonzalez, Elevate Board Member Tom Colatosti, Nancy Colatosti, Angelina Sun, Elevate Executive Director Rhea Gordon