Southampton Student Voices Earn NYSSBA Award
Posted Date: 10/06/26 (01:37 PM)
Southampton High School seniors Cameron Kieffer and Jack D’Italia have earned the New York State School Boards Association’s Tomorrow’s Leaders Today award. The award recognizes student-led acts of leadership. To earn the award, the students, as juniors, helped launch the Southampton School District Business Advisory Council with Director of Counseling Martha Tuthill. The council focuses on strengthening connections between the school district and the business community, opening doors for students to explore future career paths.
As part of the initiative, the council, made up of more than 20 local business leaders, sponsored several career information sessions where students heard directly from professionals in a variety of fields. It also sponsored a resume-building seminar to help students develop essential job-readiness skills. In addition, Kieffer and D’Italia launched an Instagram account to raise awareness about the council’s work and expand student engagement.
Kieffer and D’Italia plan to expand on the work of the council this school year and are leading a new Future Business Leaders of America chapter at their school. FBLA will focus on career education for students and possibly competitive events sponsored by the National FBLA. “I am honored to receive the Tomorrow’s Leaders Today award,” said Kieffer. “It showcases what we did connecting the community and school.” D’Italia added, “It is nice to get recognition for what we accomplished, and it highlights what we accomplished.”
Aside from participating in the Business Advisory Council and FBLA, Kieffer is actively involved in her school community as a member of the National Honor Society, student government, and track and soccer teams. She also serves as a peer tutor and facilitator for the Rotary Youth Leadership Conference and participates in Athletes Helping Athletes. Additionally, she volunteers at Heart of the Hamptons, where she serves as a Spanish translator. D’Italia is highly involved as well. He is captain of his school’s golf team and plays varsity baseball. He also is a member of the Best Buddies and Varsity clubs. Both students intend to study business in college.