Westfield High senior Carolina Sosa is the Centreville Day Citizen of the Year for 2014. She was honored by the Centreville Day Planning Committee at the Oct. 11 festivities.
In her nomination, family friend Nury Tamayo wrote, “Carolina Sosa is simply amazing.” As a sophomore, Sosa won a Youth Service America grant and founded the Scholar Society, a mentoring program designed to help low-income and first-generation students.
Because of her, students at London Towne and Cub Run elementary schools participated for eight weeks in activities that Sosa designed. They focused on college, careers, leadership, teamwork, public speaking and community service. Sosa also partnered with George Mason University students and Westfield athletes to enhance her program.
In addition, she’s received additional grants to expand it to more Centreville-area elementary schools, plus Stone Middle School. Sosa also organized a leadership and career workshop for middle-school students. The workshop featured Judge Michael Rosas and FCPS School Board member Ryan McElveen as speakers.
Sosa is also president of the Unified Prevention Coalition Youth Council, which encourages healthy lifestyles among youth. She’s co-president of the Volunteer Fairfax Youth Advisory Board and serves on the Fairfax County Student Human Rights Commission.
Furthermore, all these service activities haven’t limited her accomplishments at Westfield, where she’s president of the Spanish Honor Society and the Westfield Key Club. Sosa is also a Girl Scout. Her advice to other students is to “Stay with your goals. There may be obstacles, but there are always ways to overcome them.”