From a casual conversation at a local town hall meeting, Lakeland Hills Family YMCA and Morris County Vocational School District (MCVSD) have developed a strong, mutually beneficial partnership. Two years later, this partnership continues to blossom to give students in MCVSD’s Academy for Design opportunities to develop skills and showcase their talents more broadly. MCVSD recently recognized this important evolution, naming Lakeland Hills Family YMCA as its 2024 Business Partner of the Year.
“By supporting vocational schools, the YMCA not only fulfills its mission of youth development and community strengthening but also actively contributes to building a vibrant, skilled and engaged local community,” said Alex Martinez, CEO of Lakeland Hills Family YMCA.
Lakeland Hills Family YMCA supports Academy for Design students to succeed inside and outside of the classroom. The organization offers numerous projects students can participate in that foster their artistic expression and community. The last project displayed the students’ creative works in the newly unveiled YMCA art gallery.
“Since our first collaboration on their Summer Camp Mural project last summer, Lakeland Hills Family YMCA has consistently offered our students opportunities to showcase their artwork and design skills,” said Jennifer Lonsky, art teacher, and Ruben Rosado, teacher, both with MCVSD’s Academy for Design. “They generously allowed our Design Academy to be the first class of students to exhibit work in their annual Student Art Show and recently tasked our students with designing a wall mural that will permanently be on display in their new Science and Art Room. Even going beyond offering opportunities, the people at the Lakeland Hills YMCA have done so with genuine enthusiasm and appreciation for our students’ abilities, and we can’t thank them enough for their continued partnership.”
