Zanelli announces L.C. candidacy

Amy Zanelli, candidate for Lehigh County Commissioner in District 3, has announced that she will seek the Democratic endorsement in the May 16 primary race. The district includes Hellertown, Hanover Township and parts of Bethlehem.

The West Bethlehem resident is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams. “Reclaiming our democracy is a marathon, not a sprint,” she said. “The starting line is local politics.”

Coming from a family of union workers and veterans, she has an innate perspective of the needs of Lehigh County, she said. Her work in human services and with the criminal justice system, along with extensive advocacy work, has bolstered her ability to apply fiscally responsible solutions to issues in the community.

She has a decade-long professional career in community service and advocacy, including in-home family counseling, substance abuse, parent education and mental illness. She was a child abuse investigator and a safe space liaison for LGBTQ youth for the state of New Jersey. She currently mentors local troubled youth through Tabor Mentor Services and is a volunteer at Calypso Elementary School, Bethlehem.

She earned degrees in sociology, forensic anthropology and criminology from Rutgers University.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/amy14district 3.

All honors band taps local student

Pianist and saxophonist Dane Becker, a student at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, has been named to the bi-annual NAfME All-Eastern Honors Band. The approximately 150 instrumentalists played in an April 7 and 8 concert in the Adrian Phillips Ballroom, Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Student participation from each state is determined by a percentage of the total NAfME Eastern Division membership, with no state given less than two percent representation.

FHS student wins string award

Ryan Bailis, a cello player who is a senior at Freedom HS, was named the winner of the Allentown Music Club’s string award. He played at the club’s March 5 program at Jordan U.C.C. Church, Allentown, during which he received a cash award.

A student of Betty Tang-Louie, he is principal cellist of the Young People’s Philharmonic and school orchestras and the YPP chamber string quartet. He has been the tuba section leader of the Patriot’s Marching Band for four years.

He was principal cellist of the 2017 PMEA District 10 Orchestra, was in several Region IV/V festivals and in the All-State Orchestra. He is a member of his church’s Music Ministry program. He is a private cello instructor.

He is an AP Scholar with Distinction and the vice-p resident of the F.H.S.National Honor Society.

local resident wins HS leadership award

Adrianna Johnson of Bethlehem has been granted an high school leadership award from Widener University.

The Liberty HS student has volunteered 465 hours to community service initiatives. She is a cheerleading teacher and has a reputation for standing up for her classmates.

Award winners are chosen based on their abilities to stand up for what is right, address a wrong and make a difference in their communities or schools.

Five Bethlehem area residents received Delaware Valley University merit-based admission scholarships scholarships if the University’s top three. The students include Jordan Catrombon, Mark Horvath, Ryan Lombardo, Jake Petro and Erika Schwoyer.

Sage Gerhart of Bethlehem was inducted into the Gamma Sigma Alpha Honor Society at Kutztown University. The national honor society is for students who are members of a social Greek organization and have at least a 3.5 GPA in their junior or senior year.

Elizabeth Briggs of Bethlehem was inducted into the Alpha Epsilon Lambda national honor society for graduate students. To qualify, she completed at least 12 credit hours as a degree-seeking student in a graduate program, a grade point average placing the student in the top 35 percent of campus graduate students and a record of leadership and service to graduate students or graduate student organizations.

Two Bethlehem area residents, Matt Kantner, a dancer, and Laura Stammherr, a moraler, participated in the University of Delaware’s March UDance. The event is the nation’s fifth largest college dance marathon, to benefit families of children battling pediatric cancer and to fund research.

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