Rye Youth Council Prepares to Honor MVPS

For the first time in its 20 years of fundraising galas, the Rye Youth Council will honor four MVPS.

“In the past we’ve honored individuals, but we’ve never before called them MVPs, as in Most Valuable People,” according to Judy Secor, executive director of the Rye Youth Council.

This year's fundraising gala, which takes place Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club, will honor MVPs Holly Kennedy, a longtime community volunteer; Peter Gouveia, a language arts teacher; Steve Norman, an assistant athletic director; and Matt Tauber, an athletic trainer.

Nominations for the MVPs come from the community, Rye Youth Council members, area schools and the Council’s Board of Directors, with the board voting on the award recipients, Secor said.

As she spoke earlier this week, snow was falling outside the second floor of the Rye Youth Council office at the Rye YMCA, and Secor was concerned that the weather would impact gala attendance.

“There are still tickets available, and the gala is our main fundraising event,” she said.

The MVP award recipients exemplify a lifetime of service in and around Rye.

Holly Kennedy, for example, has been president of the Christ Church Nursery School as well as president of the Midland School and Rye Country Day Parent’s Association. She also has worked with Rye Mayor Doug French and the City Council on behalf of the Rye Flood Action Committee.

Gouveia has taught for 13 years as a seventh grade language arts teacher at Rye Middle School and was selected as the Rye City School District’s Teacher of the year for 2009-10. He also has served as a team leader, a language arts department coordinator, an advisor to the Student Council and co-advisor to the Middle School Yearbook.

Norman was inducted into the New York State Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame in 2010 and is assistant athletic director and head athletic trainer at Rye Country Day School. He oversees the athletic training service for 21 varsity teams and 62 interscholastic teams, drawing on his experience working as a trainer dating back to 1986 at various posts across the nation.

Tauber is the athletic trainer at Rye High School, and the weight training programs he has devised have been credited with contributing to the success of the Garnets football teams, according to head coach Dino Garr and standout players such as quarterback Connor Eck. Tauber has 12 years of personal coaching and athletic training experience, including a decade of directing community outreach programs at high schools throughout Westchester.

Tauber also has worked with numerous athletes at the professional, Olympic and collegiate level on an individual basis in sports such as football, hockey, baseball and track and field. As the founder of LIFT, a personal fitness and training company, he utilizes his extensive experience working with individuals with orthopedic, metabolic and lifestyle-related health issues.

Saturday's gala, which will include cocktails, dinner, dancing and an auction, isn’t just about the MVPs and socializing. It also raises money that helps the Rye Youth Council organize a variety of in-school and after school programs focusing on young people who live in Rye and/or attend school in the city. Its youth advocates also serve students in the elementary, middle and high schools, Secor said.

So, day in and day out, the Rye Youth Council has many MVPs besides the quartet being honored.

For more information on the Rye Youth Council and the upcoming gala: Rye Youth Council, 2l Locust Ave.; phone: 914-967-3838.