WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES FEBRUARY 8, 2018 17
Local mom gets sponsorship to help empower girls
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
A former educator and Ridgewood
native who started her
own organization to help
inspire and empower young girls is
getting help from a community partner
to continue her mission.
Carmin Caterina, who founded Lessons
For My Daughters, was granted a
check for $2,800 from the Ridgewood
Savings Bank to put toward an eightweek
program she will be running at
Grover Cleveland High School.
As a former speech pathologist and
itinerant teacher, Caterina told QNS
that she feels grateful and validated
now that she is getting the chance to
change the education system for girls
in ways that she used to daydream
about.
“When someone sees the value in
your work, there’s no greater accomplishment,”
Caterina said. “It’s such an
honor to be the inspiration for them
that I wish I had at that age.”
Lessons For My Daughters is a
motivational workshop designed for
teenage girls to increase self-esteem,
foster an empowered attitude, inspire
critical thinking, strengthen the ability
to maintain healthy relationships
and better regulate emotions.
The eight-week program at Grover
Cleveland will take place once a week
and is integrated into the regular
school day. That gives the students the
opportunity to take time out of their
academic work to refl ect on their level
of happiness, said Caterina, who is a
graduate of Grover Cleveland.
Her inspiration for starting the
program was born out of being raised
in an abusive home. Since her father
was ill and her mother was constantly
working, Caterina said, the environment
was toxic and she doesn’t know
if she would have learned how to love
without her grandmother.
“She treated me like I was the most
important thing in the world,” Caterina
said. “She just cared about me and I
realized that her being that person for
me changed my life.”
That realization motivated her to
give that same spirit back to the girls
in her life, but as a teacher she felt
limited. Caterina said that she was
always drawn to the inner city schools
that others would be afraid to teach in
because she felt like she could relate to
the struggling children. Over time, she
thought that the humanity of teaching
was missing, and believed that more
important than education was being
a positive role model.
Nancy Adzemovic, assistant vice
president of the Forest Hills branch
of Ridgewood Savings Bank, is also
a graduate of Grover Cleveland and
helped coordinate the partnership.
She said that Caterina is a customer
of the bank and reached out to them
by writing a letter, and it was an easy
decision to make from there.
“We thought it would be awesome
to help take her organization there
and make a diff erence in a time when
young girls need to be empowered to
do great things,” Adzemovic said.
During the eight-week program,
there will be a diff erent lesson to cover
each week with hands-on activities
for a group of 55 teenage girls. Caterina
said she will use the money from
Ridgewood Savings Bank to cover the
cost of workbooks and assignments for
the girls, as well as T-shirts and other
small gifts during the program to
uplift and inspire them. Caterina also
invited Adzemovic to take part in a
lesson on fi nances during the program.
Her ultimate goal, Caterina said, is to
have her program spread throughout
the city’s public schools and eventually
become nationwide.
Her mindset can best be summed up
by a line from the thank-you letter she
wrote to Leonard Stekol, president of
Ridgewood Savings Bank: “I have the
unique opportunity to return to my
high school and community to give
back what I was so lacking in my life,
and to me that is the ultimate gift .”
BUZZ
Photo courtesy of Carmin Caterina
Nancy Adzemovic (left) and Laura Camelo (right) from Ridgewood
Savings Bank present a check to Carmin Caterina, founder of Lessons For
My Daughters.
Glendale group’s offi cers installed
Assemblyman Mike Miller
and City Councilman Robert
Holden had the honor of
installing the executive members
and board of the Glendale Property
Owners Association (GPOA) on Feb.
1 at St. Pancras Pfeifer Hall. The
Photo courtesy of Assemblyman Mike Miller
installed officers included Brian
Dooley, Bob Koslowski, Howard
Jaeger, Chris Kurre, Clara Sarracco,
Margaret Kotnik; board members
are Tony Hund, Norbert Giesse,
Michelle Cook Lopez and Donald
Desmond.
They’re Ridgewood math wizards
Photo courtesy of St. Matthias Catholic Academy
St. Matthias Catholic Academy
in Ridgewood recently held a
math been among some of the
best math students in the school.
After nine rounds, Colin Byrne
fi nished fi rst, followed in second
place by Nicholas Hernandez and
third place by David Fital. The
participants in the bee, as shown,
included (seated, left to right): Loy
Macancela, Aleksander Tejada,
Nicholas Hernandez, Colin Byrne,
David Fital, Ardita Bajraktari and
Gianna Mathieu; and (standing, left
to right) Tijana Paljan, Enzo Rizzuto,
Christian Esteves and Xavier Mallo.
