NHS Senior Among Honorees At

Youth Spirit Awards

Newtown High School senior Erin Hayes was recently named among ten statewide recipients of the 2004 Youth Spirit Awards.

The awards recognize students who have overcome abuse, abandonment, illness, or loss to achieve extraordinary success in their personal and academic lives.

Erin had been taking Irish step dancing lessons since the age of 5. By the time she was 15, she was ranked sixth in New England. At the peak of her career, however, she learned that she had double tibia stress fractures in her legs, forcing her to stop dancing until her legs healed. Over the past year and a half, Erin has devoted her time and energy to helping other young dancers.

She wrote Feis 101 for beginning dancers as a senior-level independent study project. Last month, she underwent surgery to have titanium rods inserted in each of her legs, a painful and serious medical intervention. Erin maintains high hopes for recovering and aims to be dancing again by September.

Erin and her fellow awardees will share their stories of inspiration at a ceremony on May 18 at the Trinity Learning Corridor’s Theater of the Performing Arts in Hartford. Lt Gov M. Jodi Rell and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will join other distinguished speakers and guests to recognize the accomplishments of the young honorees.

The awards are sponsored by the Center for Children’s Advocacy, a Hartford-based nonprofit organization, along with the state Association of Boards of Education, state Training and Education Youth Committee, Connecticut Youth Forum, Court Support Services Division, Department of Children and Families, the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, the office of the Attorney General, Office of the Child Advocate, and Office of Workforce Competitiveness.