Needham Teens Earn DA's Leadership Awards

The following is a press release from the District Attorney's Office:

District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey has presented Needham High Seniors Jen Spink and Leah Siegel two of just 23 Peer Leadership Recognition awards given county-wide for 2012.

“The strength and health of school communities derives largely from the students who lead by example,” District Attorney Morrissey said after presenting the award at his 2012 Peer Leadership Conference, held in Norwood recently. “Good teachers and thoughtful administrators are important, but it is students like Jen and Leah doing the work.”

The Needham High seniors were nominated by Deb Jacob, a member of Needham’s Domestic Violence Action Committee and Club Advisor for Needham High School Take Back the Night. “As freshmen, Jen and Leah joined (Needham’s) Take Back the Night Club and immediately immersed themselves in the event,” Jacob wrote in her letter to the DA. “By the end of their sophomore years, they evolved into the role of co-chairs of the club,” she wrote, describing both girls as “solid, consistent, understated leaders and humanitarians,” and members of the National Honor Society.

“Everything they do sets an example of how to participate in and improve their communities,” Jacob wrote.

The award presentations were made midway through the five-hour Peer Leadership Conference, which supplied workshops and presentations on bullying prevention, dating violence, drug and alcohol use, mentoring and other subjects to more than 150 students hand-chosen to attend from across the county. “We worked to put together a program that might supply tools to the students who are shaping the attitudes and cultures within our schools,” District Attorney Morrissey said.

The conference was paid for using money seized during drug raids and later forfeited by drug dealers as being criminal proceeds. “We are using money earned through bad decisions and dangerous activities to promote good decisions and safety in our schools,” District Attorney Morrissey said.