TRUNK OR TREAT
Jamie SanFilippo, Director of Community Outreach for the YMCA of Centre County, lead the first ever Trunk or Treat, held at the YMCA. A Trunk or Treat involves children trick or treating out of the back of people’s cars that are usually decorated festively for Halloween. This event was safe, every staff member and vendor were wearing masks and gloves to hand out the candy to the children, and hand sanitizer was provided all over during the event. Jamie was enthusiastic about holding this because it was a way for kids to celebrate Halloween in a safe and fun way. The Trunk or Treat was successful for the YMCA, 150 children and their parents showed up to have a marvelous time for the spooky season while keeping themselves safe.
CALLED TO SERVE - REMOTE STORY
Feeling a strong urge to create a path that is more meaningful for her life, 22-year-old Kayla Delvalle, dropped out of Penn State University and enlisted in the United States Air Force. Fear is not a word in Kayla’s vocabulary as she has chosen to face this societal challenge head on and become a member of the military police. Kayla is currently in training for Security Forces and is being stationed at the Ramstein, Germany Air Force Base for 2-3 years, beginning in January. In her quest to better the world and fight against these unfortunate stereotypes that society has created, Kayla wants to redefine the image that our nation has now created about members of the police force.
BECOMING MATTHEW DAWKINS
Hearst Journalism Award Winner: Multimedia Digital News/Enterprise
Gender Identity is defined by MyHealth as “A person’s internal sense of whether they’re male or female, both or neither. It’s a person’s internal, deeply held sense of one’s gender. Gender identity is not visible to others. It may be the same as the sex they were assigned at birth (cisgender) or not (transgender).
Matthew Dawkins is a 22-year-old, transgender male who started his transition during his junior year of high school. Since Matt was three years old, he said he began presenting himself in a way that felt most comfortable to him. “I remember playing with my twin sister Jada at a young age and I didn’t want to play with our dolls and kitchen playset. I did not want to play dress-up in princess costumes. I was drawn to trucks and remote-controlled cars,” Matt explained, I remember asking my mom to buy me race cars and army trucks.”
Before coming out as transgender, Matt ran for the girl’s track and field team at his high school, Cherokee High School in Marlton, New Jersey. He was a star athlete for the girl’s team and competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and excelled at the long jump. He held a prominent role on the team, and he placed in the top 3 of his events at conference championships his sophomore year.
Matt currently is a motivational speaker for the LGBTQ+ community and willingly shares his story. He has spoken at Temple University and Rutgers University and hopes to continue to spread his message, “It is important to me to speak of my journey and spread awareness so that I can possibly encourage or help anyone that could be struggling with their own gender identity. Unfortunately, not everyone has the supportive family and community that I have, and I want others to know there is help and hope out there for him. I believe there is not enough information about transgenders and transitioning out there. Many physicians wrongly diagnosis people because they themselves are just uneducated about the topic. Hopefully, my story can help change that.”
Matt currently resides close to the Jersey Shore and lives with his mother. He has found a new passion for landscaping and works full time while speaking at engagements whenever he has the opportunity. Matt spends his time with his friends and family, surfing, hiking with his mom and says he is just enjoying his life being happy with his “true self.”
