Bellport High grad Sara Repper wins Youth Humanitarian Award
Sara Repper has received the Youth Humanitarian Award for Suffolk County from the New York State PTA. Credit: South Country Central School District
If there is a community service initiative in and around Bellport Village, chances are, Sara Repper is there.
Whether cleaning beaches, mentoring classmates with special needs or plunging into icy water to raise money for the Special Olympics, the 18-year-old has spent much of her high school career giving back to the community.
Those efforts earned Repper this year’s Youth Humanitarian Award for Suffolk County from the New York State PTA. She was honored this spring during a dinner at Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook.
Repper said her favorite volunteer work came through Bellport High School’s Athletes Helping Others Club, where she served as treasurer while captaining the varsity girls soccer team. The club pairs students with classmates who have special needs and raises thousands of dollars each fall for Special Olympics New York through the Town of Brookhaven’s “Freezin’ for a Reason” Polar Plunge.
“Working with that group of kids has been very special to me,” said Repper, who graduated in June. “Most of us would usually hang out with them during the day outside of the club. It was great to help guide them and just show them all the different kinds of things they never thought that they could do.”
She also participated in holiday food drives benefiting the Lighthouse Mission in Bellport, beach cleanups at Smith Point County Park in Shirley through her school’s Math Honor Society and along with fellow honor society students helped organize games and distribute food and drinks during holiday parades.
Beyond school, Repper voluteered at the South Country Library in Bellport where she planted flowers and contributing close to two dozen reviews of new books as part of the library’s book review program for young adults.
“Bellport is a really great village and I’m very grateful to have grown up in a strong community, so I definitely wanted my work to go back to the village," said Repper, of Brookhaven.
Bellport High School Principal Erika Della Rosa said she is "incredibly proud" of Repper.
"Sara exemplifies the values that we strive to instill in all of our students," Della Rosa said. "She leads with compassion, integrity and purpose, making a positive impact on everyone around her."
Gerri Coleman-Odom, director of the New York State PTA's Suffolk Region, also commended Repper's efforts to improve her community.
"Sara has always had compassion and respect for others," said Coleman-Odom, noting the teen realizes that "doing good things for those around you brings light to not only their lives but also to your own."
Repper will attend the University of South Carolina this fall, where she plans to study nursing.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
