Marissa Farbman

“Powerful message bearer” is an appropriate title to describe Marissa Farbman’s ability to effectively drive messages home to her peers at school. She has contributed extensive time in leadership positions to the Vermont Teen Leadership Safety Program by organizing Red Ribbon Week, a week dedicated to Americans who have sacrificed in their support against drug trafficking and substance abuse and Sticker Shock, a program to reduce the selling of alcohol to teens. Marissa persevered for two years to bring a presenter to her school whom she had seen who was paralyzed from the chest down as a result of a drunken driving car accident. She organized discussion groups to prepare prior to the speaker’s presentation as well as after his presentation to help solidify the experience for the students, resulting in drastically reduced incidences of harmful behaviors and positive kudos for her efforts. She and the other students in the program also stopped social media bullying at her school. Marissa’s employment as a US Senate Page during her junior year successfully taught her how to work with people with diverse work ethics and backgrounds towards common goals. “I can picture myself in a leadership role to better my local community and country” as a result of being the youngest employee in the U.S. Senate. Marissa is from Killington, VT and plans to study at Duke University in the fall.