Millis LEO Alyssa Smith Named Massachusetts LEO of the Year

On May 6th, Millis High School junior Alyssa Smith was named Massachusetts LEO of the Year.
“Our district of LEOs and Lions consists of a number of towns,” says Mark Caulfield, member of the Millis Lions Club, Millis High School teacher and advisor to the Millis High School LEOs. “I chose to nominate Allie, just because of all the service she does. She volunteers for just about everything,” says Caulfield, who describes the Millis LEOs, who number about 70 students, as still “in its infancy” in its third year.
The LEOS club gives the kids the opportunity to work together with Lions and other adults in their community to give back to their community in which they’ve grown up,” says Debbie Hayes, of the Millis Lions Club. “When we first started this program, our hope was we were going to get 20 kids in the high school to join. We were thrilled to get over 50. You have an amazing group of kids working with an amazing group of adults giving everything they have back to the community.”
The term LEO is an acronym for “Leadership, Opportunity and Excellence.” The Millis group will celebrate three years in December. Hayes says the LEOS program is designed to teach leadership, public speaking, organizational and financial skills.
“In truth, the LEOS is supposed to be a conduit for the Lions Club,” says Hayes. Hopes are that these young volunteers will take enough from their experience of giving back to want to continue that into adulthood. “They gain this great sense of self-esteem, because they’re heading projects and gaining leadership skills they can use when they go to college. Now you’re talking about future leaders in your community.”
“It has been great for our school,” says Caulfield. “We can always do more, and I think, as a club, we’re trying to come up with new ideas and different ways the kids can volunteer in the community. The kids are eager to participate, both with their own events, as well as those for the Millis Recreation Department or the Lions Club.”
Some of the events the LEOs have worked on include an annual senior citizens’ dinner, hosted by the Lions, a Trick-or-Treat-So-Families-Can-Eat event, babysitting for the Clyde Brown back-to-school 5K, setting up for the Warren Jordan Scholarship auction, helping the Lions raise money for the Fisher House with a field of flags, and working on a Lions centennial legacy project of revamping the animal shelter at the Millis Transfer Station, an event that took place on May 20th.
“I found it really eye opening, all the things we can do to help the community,” says Smith, who is impressed by how far the teens’ help goes and by the appreciation she feels from the community. She was particularly struck, she says, when she helped work on a holiday brunch for Lions Club members who are senior citizens.
“They tell us stories,” says Smith, the current LEOs Vice Secretary, “about when they were younger and how they wanted to participate in the community. Their stories are the same as ours, about how the things we do go so far, and how it’s so important that the younger generations come up. All the appreciation that people give you is so inspiring. You don’t realize how much people need it until you actually help out.”