Katie St. Denis, Youth Leadership Team Complete Project

By Karen Halliday and Jean St. Denis

The project that youth leaders began just about a year ago has been completed, a triumph of teamwork and generosity.

Katie St. Denis of Montville was one of a group of 40 young adults with disabilities who attended the 12th annual Youth Leadership Forum last summer at the University of Connecticut. 

Her work, along with work by other people on her team, and donations from an architect from West Hartford and a construction firm in Hartford helped complete a multi-level ramp to help a young girl from Plainfield who is consigned to a wheelchair.

The weeklong program, hosted by the Connecticut Youth Leadership Project, is designed to foster the knowledge and skills necessary for students with disabilities to realize their leadership potential and become confident in becoming effective self-advocates.

The 40 students were divided into four teams, according to where they live and utilized part of the week developing a Community Action Plan – a project, large or small that will affect the lives of people with disabilities in their communities. 

The team from northeast/southeast Connecticut called themselves “Anna’s Angels” and decided to build a wheelchair ramp for a young girl named Anna from Plainfield.

Anna’s Angels is comprised of team leader Kasi Kelly from Plainfield, along with students  St. Denis; Morgan Clendennin, Quaker Hill; Kyle Miller, Salem; Nick Miller, Lebanon; Shannon Flannery, Lebanon and Adam Loveland, Clinton.

The students spent the past year raising the needed funds to build the ramp, but soon realized the project was much bigger than they could have anticipated.

The multi-level ramp that Anna needed for her home was too complex and costly to complete on their own. Not willing to give up on their promise to Anna and her family, team members sought help from experts in the field – Nick Michnevitz, an architect from MBH Architecture, LLC in West Hartford, donated his talents to design the plans for the ramp.

Brian D. Horton, director of business development from The Associated Construction Company in Hartford, along with the building crew led by foreman Gino Pelletier, donated the extensive manpower and time to build the ramp for Anna.

The students were able to raise almost the entire cost of materials themselves.

St. Denis received donations from employee dress-down funds at the three Montville elementary schools and the high school. She would like to thank all the Montville teachers and staff for their generous donations toward this project. 

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on July 20, 2011, to thank the team members and those businesses who generously gave of their time and expertise to make this project a reality. 

The Board of Directors of the Connecticut Youth Leadership Project wishes to express their sincere thanks to MBH Architecture, the Associated Construction Company of Hartford and Anna’s Angels for their perseverance and commitment to make life a little easier for Anna and her family. 

To read more about St. Denis, click .