Scholar Portal
Our friend and colleague GARTH ADAMS, who has served as Chief Program Office since 2013, is moving on from HYS into an exciting position as Director of Athletics at Bancroft School, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Although we are sad to see Garth leave, we are so happy he has a chance to work in the area he also loves: athletics and coaching!
Read Mr. Adams’ heartfelt letter to the HYS community below.
To My HYS Colleagues and the Entire HYS Community:
With mixed emotions, I write to inform you that my last official day with Hartford Youth Scholars will be Friday, July 30.
I have accepted a new position as the Director of Athletics at Bancroft School, a pre K–12 day-school in Worcester, Massachusetts. As many of you know, athletics and coaching have always been an important facet of my personal and professional life, and I am excited to join a school community and lead its athletic department. I did not anticipate that a position of this magnitude would present itself so close to the start of a new school year. And while I cannot say that I believe in fate, sometimes doors do open and opportunities present themselves, and we are not in control of when this will happen. I know that I will miss everyone at HYS more than I can adequately express, and I also know this is the right move for me at this time.
What I want to do most in this letter is express my gratitude.
To my HYS colleagues: Your zeal, commitment, and devotion to our Scholars and the work we do has been a constant source of inspiration. I count myself fortunate to have worked with such a focused, thoughtful, and driven group of people. You have accomplished so much and pushed our organization to be better. I will look back proudly on our work together.
To our HYS Scholars: I am so proud of each of you and all that you have accomplished. Getting to know you and your families has been one of the true joys of my life. I will miss you all dearly and will forever think fondly of our time together at HYS. Please know that I remain available to you and will help in any way that I can.
To our HYS families: Thank you for your belief in our work and trusting us with your Scholars. We cannot accomplish all that we set out to do without your unfailing partnership.
To the HYS Board of Directors: Your commitment to HYS helps make our organization the best in its class and enables our continued improvement. Thank you.
To AB and Rox: You believed in me when I needed it most, welcomed me into HYS, and supported me unconditionally for eight years. Thank you is completely insufficient.
While I will no longer be an official part of HYS, I will always think of myself as a member of the HYS community. All of you have enriched my life in profound and lasting ways.
With deep appreciation and affection,
Garth A. Adams
IMPORTANT COVID REQUIREMENTS/UPDATES from the Executive Director • JUNE 2021
Dear HYS Academy Families,
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Hartford Youth Scholars (HYS) has done its best to be responsive to the needs of our HYS community. In these precarious times, the safety and wellbeing of our Scholars and families has remained our top priority. Your voices have led the way in the planning and design of our programming through your participation in surveys, town hall discussions, virtual interactions, and phone calls. However, we have missed seeing all of you, as well as the enrichment, community building, and engagement that in-person programming provides.
As we look toward the future and beyond this summer’s virtual programming, we are writing to let you know that HYS plans to return to in-person programming this fall.
Please know that we will continue to follow the lead of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and our host, Trinity College. Trinity has been a trusted supporter of HYS since our inception by opening the campus to us to provide this amazing opportunity for our students. Trinity has mandated that all of its students provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination to return in the fall, and the college has informed us that it has the same expectations of all Hartford Youth Scholars who will be on campus. To be clear, all HYS Academy Scholars will need to be fully vaccinated in order to attend The Collegiate Academy classes.
As of early May, the CDC has endorsed the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine for children 12 and older. With that news, we are encouraging all families to consider having their Scholar vaccinated so that we can be in community once again.
Recognizing that some families are reluctant to have their Scholars vaccinated, we will offer a virtual option for the fall 2021 and spring 2022 sessions for those Scholars and families who are not vaccinated, provided there is enough interest to justify this offering. This transition period will not be permanent. Remaining virtual is not a sustainable model for HYS, and as a result, we will not offer any virtual option past spring 2022. As of summer 2022, HYS plans to be 100 percent in person without a virtual option, meaning that all HYS Scholars must provide proof of vaccination to participate in HYS programming.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Garth Adams, Chief Program Officer or Armanthia Duncan, Academy Dean. We look forward to the day that COVID-19 is behind us and we can return our main focus to scholarship!
In community,
Anthony Byers
Executive Director
Attention all Scholars - with special attention to those who are in high school and college - You should be receiving emails from HYS on a fairly regular basis. If you have not been, it is possible that we do not have your current contact information. Everyone please take a moment to fill out this updated contact information form! Thank you!
HARTFORD YOUTH HEROES
Delisa is an HYS alumna, having graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. She is one of our Scholars who is working on the front lines in the coronavirus pandemic, and one day during the pandemic, HYS Executive Director Anthony Byers (AB) surprised her with lunch from Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ.
Delisa has been working with Hartford Healthcare for the past three years, and her current role is Laboratory Assistant, working on the receiving end of covid-19 specimens that have been collected for testing. A true Scholar, Delisa is currently working on earning a Medical Laboratory Technologist certificate. This excites her; Delisa "absolutely loves” her job. She says that she fell in love with the hands-on aspect of biology when she was in college. She loves being a part of patients’ journeys to recovery – even if no one ever knows it but her!
Delisa says that the worst part of her job is that the workload sometimes can be overwhelming. She says, too, that a lot of her family members have always worked in healthcare, and she’s proud to be continuing the tradition. Delisa has also found great stress-relievers that help her to decompress. When asked about her favorite movie, she couldn’t narrow it down to one, saying that it’s a tie between The Greatest Showman, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Avatar. She says that she’s fascinated by these movies and has watched each of them at least 15 times, because she loves films that take her to a world that’s completely different from the reality that she lives in. She’s loved “The Odyssey” since reading it with HYS when she was in 6th grade – for the same reason. She loves the feeling of adventure that she experienced while reading the book.
Unlike most of our young Scholars, Delisa WANTED to apply to Hartford Youth Scholars, and she says that she’d definitely recommend to any 6th grader that they give the program a chance, because “a sacrifice now can lead to a great future.” She’d also like prospective Scholars to know that it’s not all hard work! She remembers an outing where the young people hung out at a swimming pool, and some of them rode horses… she remembers that day as being completely carefree. She’d also like to take this moment to thank Mr. Byers. Not just for the lunch (although she says that Bear’s was AMAZING), but for being there since day one of HYS. Delisa believes that AB is “in the memories of hundreds of people like me who he has helped shape.”
Delisa wants everyone to know that Hartford Healthcare has a lot of resources available to help keep everyone informed about the current pandemic. She’s shared these links, hoping that someone will find the information that they need.
https://hartfordhealthcare.org/health-wellness/coronavirus/self-isolation-guidelines
https://hartfordhealthcare.org/health-wellness/coronavirus/faq
Thank you for the links, Delisa and, more importantly, thank you for your work on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. We are proud of you and we appreciate what you are doing!
