PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK
Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services donated school supplies to several Worcester County schools last Thursday, including a stop seen here at the Worcester Technical High School. Pictured, from left, are Worcester Youth Programs Coordinator Tiffany Scott, Worcester Youth Executive Director Steve Taylor, and Worcester Tech guidance counselors Shelly Mason and Jennifer Howard.

By Rachel Ravina, Staff Writer

(Feb. 21, 2019) Three Worcester County schools stocked up on school supplies last Thursday, thanks to a donation from Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services.

The Berlin-based nonprofit in a Feb. 14 Facebook post announced that Berlin Intermediate School, Buckingham Elementary School and Worcester Technical High School had received the supplies.

Tiffany Scott, newly named youth programs coordinator for Worcester Youth, said it was a team effort and her coworker, Debbie Smullen, reached out to the schools to ask what supplies were needed.

Scott said items, including notebooks, pencils, markers and folders, were first donated to Worcester Youth, and then given to the schools.

“Everyone is so financially strained right now, so we all have to jump in and help each other,” Scott said. “The community has been great.”

Worcester Youth held a welcome party for Scott last Friday at the Main Street center in downtown Berlin, where she was able to get to know the program’s participants. Scott began her job on Jan. 22.

“I’m trying to form a better relationship with not just the kids, but the families too,” Scott said in a February interview.

She also discussed some of her goals in her new role. When asked what they were, Scott said she had countless ideas.

As the youth programs coordinator, she will be in charge of programs for the Berlin Youth Club, as well as the Strengthening Adolescent Boys with Education and Resources (SABRES) group. The Berlin Youth Club is held in the summer and can hold up to 26 children. The SABRES club is made up of about eight students in seventh and eighth grade.

Scott said the county and Town of Berlin were supportive of local youth. She added that developing relationships with area businesses and community members was on her list of priorities.

“[They’re] very supportive of Worcester Youth and Family [Counseling] Services, and that’s phenomenal,” Scott said. “Everybody I’ve reached out to … I’m like, ‘I want to partner with you to expose the kids to your business and what you do.’ And they’re like, ‘Yes, please. Anytime!’”

For Scott, it’s all about using the resources that the Eastern Shore has to offer to broaden the horizons of the young people in her charge. In the near future, she’d love to take Worcester Youth participants to use the flight simulator at University of Maryland Eastern Shore, for instance.

“I’m most looking forward to just exposing the kids to new things, new people, [and] new experiences … to expose them to different diverse things [that] they wouldn’t get a chance to do,” she said.