Caitlin Yabroudy Grabs Every Opportunity

Caitlin Yabroudy can usually be found smiling at Huntington High School, where the teenager is in her senior year. She is one of the most energetic and enthusiastic members of the Class of 2014 and has played a role in a variety of after-school clubs and activities and sports teams.

“Huntington has given me so many opportunities and I’ve tried to grab as many as I could,” Ms. Yabroudy said. “I’ve been in the district since kindergarten and have loved all of it since.”

The senior has devoted a great deal of her time to the cross country and winter track and field teams, Relay For Life and Grandfriends, a high school club that builds intergenerational relationships.

Ms. Yabroudy has been working closely with fellow seniors and Relay For Life chairs Summer Rudish, Hector Alvarado and Olivia Palmer along with teacher Joseph Cohen (Huntington’s National Honor Society chapter advisor who helps organize the Relay For Life) and American Cancer Society liaison Alyssa Knudsen.

“I love everything about Relay and genuinely enjoy spending my Friday afternoons talking in a circle with the committee,” Ms. Yabroudy said. “Each and every one of the members is amazing and I’m going to miss them incredibly much. Mr. Cohen and Alyssa Knudsen are incredible, too. Relay would be nothing without them! Our third Relay will be on June 7 and it will be amazing! Relay is about celebrating, remembering and fighting back against cancer and the incoming freshmen should definitely get on board. Our Relay kickoff week will be February 10 so everyone should look forward to it.”

Ms. Yabroudy has been a member of either the cross country or winter track teams for at least one season in each of the past four years. “Debra Cheskes has been an amazing coach and I wouldn’t trade learning how to hurdle, race-walk or run a 5k with her for the world,” the senior said. “The memories that lie in all of those years of running will never change. I still remember the amazing senior captains [we had in my first year] and I hoped to be one the freshmen could look up to this year. These sports have also led to great friendships. I still stay in touch with many of the upperclassmen from track.”

The senior has also been involved with the Grandfriends club and its co-advisor Suzie Biagi since her freshman year. “I love going caroling and singing with the elderly and who doesn’t have fun dancing with them at the senior-senior prom,” Ms. Yabroudy said. “We also do annual food drives and help out the community in small projects with HiHi (Huntington Interfaith Housing Initiative) or by making Thanksgiving baskets.”

Ms. Yabroudy said some of her favorite classes have included electives such as Asian Studies and Women’s Studies. “Both classes were incredible because I was able to learn new things, not just math or regular social studies,” the teenager said. “This year I tried a new elective, Theatre Arts with Mr. [Michael] Schwendemann, which is also really great. We’ve already gone to Broadway to see The Glass Menagerie, which was fantastic.”

Regardless of the activity or setting, Ms. Yabroudy has seized on it to grow intellectually, socially and emotionally. She has made “unbreakable friendships through getting to know people from classes as well as through the Natural Helpers club” and has a trail of fond memories of her time at Huntington High School.

“The connections and friendships I’ve made here have been amazing,” Ms. Yabroudy said. “All of my teachers have been amazing, too. I can trust so many of them with everything. I feel like it is too hard to even say which ones are my favorites because they all are!”

A legitimate scholar, Ms. Yabroudy teamed up with classmates Molly Brambil and Megan Healy last year to capture first place in the group website category at the National History Day state finals in Cooperstown, New York. The three friends earned the state championship for their entry, “Tragedy as a Turning Point for Workers’ Rights: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.” The group also won the Best Entry on Labor History Award presented by the American Labor Studies Center. The honor carried with it a financial stipend. To view the award-winning website visit: http://36870672.nhd.weebly.com/index.html.

“If I could give one piece of advice to the incoming freshmen it would be to smile and to never stop,” Ms. Yabroudy said. “Smile at people you don’t know, smile at people you know and you will find yourself surrounded in an amazing community. You never know what a simple smile can do!”