Investing in the next generation: Three teens selected to “Transform Rhode Island”

Sebastian Connolly was a senior at Classical High School when he was named the 2024 winner of the Papitto Opportunity Connection’s annual high school competition for the best idea to improve the lives of “those who need it most.”

As it has done twice before, the foundation promised to invest $1 million in the young man’s idea. But there was an extra twist this year. Barbara Papitto, the foundation’s founder, explains:

“The level of thought by all of these students is amazing, and there were so many incredible ideas to create real change here in our state, we invested an additional $300,000 in a 6-week pilot program to kickstart two other students’ ideas.”

Under an agreement with Papitto, Leadership Rhode Island works with the winners in the “Transform Rhode Island” Scholarship (TRIS) competition to turn their ideas into actual programs, projects or activities.

“For a group of adults to not only express belief in young people but to put so much trust in them to invest $1 million in their vision is unprecedented,“ says LRI Director of Community Engagement Samantha Bergbauer.

“To be able to work with such inspiring young leaders as they make real, tangible change in their communities and assist in their own leadership development is an experience I never expected.”

Connolly proposed the creation of a peer-to-peer tutoring program to benefit high school students in districts throughout the state.

In his entry, the Classical valedictorian, who is now a first year student at Harvard University, attributed his idea to personal experience.

“My senior year I started tutoring at Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School through the Boys and Girls Club of Providence,” Connolly wrote. “I saw that for the students there, because they didn’t have the same tutoring infrastructure that exists at Classical, what I was doing made a lot more of a difference.”

One of the students whose idea will be piloted, Zachary Jean-Philippe, now a senior at Cranston West, proposed Sweet Talkers, a program that uses the excitement of baking cakes and cookies to help children with speech and language impairments develop their speaking skills.

The other winner, Naomi Delgado Pedraza, then a senior at Central Falls High School, now a freshman at the University of Rhode Island, envisions the creation of Color Me Happy, an art therapy program for young people struggling with an array of adjustment problems, from mental health challenges to behavioral issues.

In addition to investing in the ideas of the winners, the foundation awards TRIS scholarships, ranging from $5,000 to $25,000, to the top ten students in each year’s competition.

Mariam Kaba of Woonsocket, who, in 2022, became the first TRIS winner, is profiled on page x.

Siya Singhal, a junior at The Wheeler School, was the 2023 winner. She envisions a world where every child’s superpower is cultural confidence, driven by collective cultural awareness.

She proposed partnering with non-profit cultural organizations to conduct interactive seminars in schools to share their respective cultures and traditions. “Because cultural belonging shouldn’t be a benefit, but a given,” Siya says.

Siya has visited schools, attended RI Civic Learning Week and participated in the “We are ALL Readers” event where she met students, families and community leaders and distributed more than 100 culturally relevant and age-appropriate books.