2 · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2018 TRIB TOTAL MEDIA
Letter from the president
T he Trib Total Media Out-standing
Young Citizen
Awards Program is a long-standing
tradition and one that
I look forward to each and every
year.
This year, we
received 533 out-standing
nomina-tions,
representing
97 schools across
the region. From all
of our nominees, we
selected 100 stu-dents
to
receive the Outstanding Young Citi-zen
Award.
Those students are featured with-in
these pages and will be honored
at a banquet this evening.
In addition, 10 students will be
selected to receive the Outstanding
Young Citizen gold medal, signify-ing
that they are among the very
best of the best.
Finally, we also will present
$5,000 scholarships to two stu-dents,
in recognition of their com-mitment
to volunteerism and com-munity
service.
Our gold medal winners and
scholarship recipients will be
announced in the Tribune-Re-view
(Valley News Dispatch and
Westmoreland Editions) on Thurs-day,
April 19.
These students not only excel in
the classroom, but they spend
countless hours participating in
extracurricular activities and serving
their communities. Their dedica-tion
and commitment to excellence
is remarkable.
They are leaders in not only their
schools but their communities as
well. We are honored to have the
opportunity to give them the recog-nition
that they deserve.
As we honor these young adults,
we must take a moment to recog-nize
and thank the many parents,
teachers, coaches, advisors and
mentors who have supported and
encouraged them along the way.
You have helped these students
grow into the Outstanding Young
Citizens that they are.
I also must take this opportunity
to extend our sincerest thanks to
our generous sponsor — University
of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. We
truly value your partnership; please
know how much your support is
appreciated.
Finally, thanks must also be ex-tended
to you, the reader. Without
you, none of this would be pos-sible.
I ask that if you know any of the
students highlighted in this section
that you please take a moment to
congratulate them for setting such
an outstanding example.
I would like to personally con-gratulate
the 2018 Trib Total Me-dia
Outstanding Young Citizen
nominees and awardees. I have the
utmost confidence that you will go
on to do amazing things.
Jennifer Bertetto
President & C.E.O.
Trib Total Media
Meet the Judges
Heather
Kabala serves
as the director
of admissions
and a member
of the enroll-ment
manage-ment
team at
the University of
Pittsburgh at Greensburg. Heather
began her career at La Roche
College, where she served as an
admissions counselor and assis-tant
director during her five-year
tenure. In 2002, Heather joined
the Pitt family as the assistant
director of admissions and in
2007 was appointed to her cur-rent
position. She has worked in
college admissions for 20 years
and serves on several commit-tees
within the university. Heather
also serves as secretary to the La
Roche College Alumni Association
and is a member of the steering
committee for the Consortium for
Public Education, where she works
to advance college and career
readiness of students across
Western Pennsylvania.
Molly Robb
Shimko serves
as associate
vice president
for institutional
advancement and
chief communi-cations
officer
at Seton Hill University. In her
role, she works to foster a greater
understanding and appreciation
of Seton Hill, its history, mission,
programs and people in order to
secure strong financial support
for annual operations, capital and
endowment growth. In addition,
she serves as the university’s chief
communications officer. Prior to
her position at Seton Hill, Molly
worked as director of major gifts
at Chatham University in Pitts-burgh
and director of annual
fund at Saint Vincent College in
Latrobe. She earned a bachelor
of arts degree from Saint Vin-cent
and received the college’s
Alumna of Distinction Award.
Molly earned an MBA from Seton
Hill University. She is involved
with several community organi-zations
and is a recipient of the
Westmoreland County Winners’
Circle Community Service Award.
Molly presently serves on the
Mental Health America South-western
Pennsylvania Board of
Directors. She is a past president
of the MHA Board and received
the agency’s Fred Funari Award
of Distinction. She also serves as
secretary for the Catholic Chari-ties
of the Diocese of Greensburg
Board of Trustees. Molly is a
member of the Excela Health
Patient Family Advisory Council.
She is a past president of the
Saint Vincent Alumni Council and
remains engaged in committee
work. She is a member of several
professional organizations, includ-ing
the Council for the Advance-ment
and Support of Education
and the Public Relations Society
of America. She and her husband,
Ken Shimko, reside in Latrobe
and are members of Saint Vincent
Basilica Parish.
As director of
development
and com-munications,
Karen Struble
Myers over-sees
multi-year,
multifaceted
fundraising and
communications plans designed to
promote and support the mission
and programs of the Fred Rogers
Center at Saint Vincent College.
She is responsible for annual
giving, major gifts, grant writing,
special events, brand strategy,
external relations, publications and
e-communications. A graduate of
Penn State University, she holds a
B.A. in advertising-public rela-tions,
and minors in speech com-munication
and business. Karen
received an M.S. in professional
leadership, training and develop-ment
from Carlow University. She
is a Certified Fundraising Execu-tive
(CFRE), serving as a frequent
lecturer on annual fund strategies,
and has more than 15 years of ex-perience
in nonprofit development
and marketing roles.