PHS Senior Partners with Police in Kind Find Program

Name, Age: Samantha Tanner, 17

School: 

Accomplishment: Creating the VIP Kind Find program for special needs youths in the Pleasantville community.

Key to Awesomeness: Pleasantville's Samantha Tanner has been a girl scout since kindergarten and continues to enjoy volunteering in the community.

With senior year underway, Tanner is busy with schoolwork, captaining the and fulfilling the 65 hours of service she needs for her Girl Scout Gold Award.

On Sunday morning, Tanner set up a table in the back field of the high school during VIP AYSO soccer registration to launch a new program she organized for her Gold Award project.

She said she came up with the idea after an incident a few months back in the village.

"A couple months ago, one of the special needs children in Pleasantville ran away and he was nonverbal," she explained. "Police just thought he was a regular kid and kept driving by."

Tanner, who has interned with Deirdre Vedovino, a special education teacher at , reached out to the with an idea to help prevent this from happening again.

Detective Jesse Wollman, the village's youth officer, said the incident was "nothing serious," but having Tanner's Kind Find record in place "really eliminates the information gathering phase."

Through the VIP Kind Find Program, explained Tanner, parents can voluntarily provide information for the police department to keep on file in the event of an emergency.

"It will prevent all the confusion," she explained, sharing the two-page sign-up sheet with parents at the  soccer field.

Colleen Wagner, who coordinates the village's VIP AYSO soccer program, said, "Sam's done a really good job."

"There can be misunderstandings between the first responders [and special needs youths]," she explained. "We have also discussed sharing the book with the Mount Pleasant Police Department."

Yesterday, while VIP AYSO and Kind Find sign-ups were underway, Tanner took photographs of the youths to keep with their police files.

Police Officer Kevin Gilmartin also stopped by the school to pose for photos, helping the youths become more comfortable around a uniformed officer.

Detective Wollman explained for now, the program will only be available in Pleasantville, but may expand down the line.

"I'm happy to be a part of a great program and great resource for our community," he said. 

Do you know a kid, teen or group who has raised money for charity, scored the winning goal at the big game or regularly helps out in the community? We want to hear about it! Send your nominations for individuals, teams or groups of kids to sarah.studley@patch.com and they could be featured in an upcoming Whiz Kid column.

Note: This article previously misidentified the Kind Find program. We regret the error.