On December 3, 2022, the Nominating Committee of Rotary District 7305 gathered to select the next District Governor Nominee Designate (DGND). The Nominating Committee was comprised of the following Rotarians: Colleen Arnowitz (Charleroi), Vickie Buzzelli (North Boroughs), George Dull (Fox Chapel), Dan Kravetz (White Oak), Kelli Robbins (Pittsburgh), Miguel Saviroff (Somerset), Patricia Shaffer (Murrysville-Export) and Mark Rafail (Uniontown).
For the second year in a row Coach Felicia Mycyk held her all-girls football camp called Zone Coverage. Girls traveled from several counties and states to participate in the girls football camp held in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.
"Giving girls the space to see themselves as athletes empowers them to build confidence and self-esteem," said Coach Mycyk. Click here to Read original article
Titusville Rotary Club members and guests of the local business community met on Tuesday to hear from motivational speaker Felicia Mycyk at the 2022 Annual Free Enterprise Luncheon. The event had previously been the Rotary’s part of Chamber Month, but has since become a stand alone event allowing business leaders to hear from experts in various fields. While no longer part of Chamber Month, the luncheon is a joint venture by the Titusville Rotary Club and the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce. According to Chris Fiely, president of the Rotary Club, the purpose of the event “is joining business and community leaders to celebrate our country’s economic system and learn from guest speakers.” A few years ago I worked for a political campaign. At a team meeting about neighborhood canvassing, there was a discussion on what dates and locations to visit. One of the members told me that I cannot go to a few towns because my skin color would hurt the candidate in the polls. Also, my safety was a concern. It set me back for a millisecond and reminded me that not everyone was as progressive as the candidate. It was more shocking that the person that said it to me was a young male in his 20s.
We made it through the first nine weeks!
I had to adjust a few areas in our life with the kids at home when I am working remotely. Here are my top 3 tips for those whose coworkers are their children who work in different departments. We did it — four events in one weekend! It was a challenge but we organized four Community Heart & Soul picnics in local parks throughout Ambridge. We followed CDC recommended guidelines which allowed residents to have a low-pressure experience meeting our leadership team and learning about how Ambridge Heart & Soul will become the basis for building our community’s shared values and unique action plan.
I can honestly say, I love where we are at in this journey. Community Heart & Soul is about storytelling and how it can help communities build brighter futures together. The goal is to involve as many residents as possible, including those who are underrepresented and have not typically had a voice in their community’s planning processes. During our picnics, residents were welcomed and encouraged to visit five stations to help set the stage for meaningful and transformative action plans. " Ambridge Community Heart & Soul solicited feedback from residents at community picnics. Photo credit: Rustbelt Mayberry Photography / Ambridge Heart & Soul. Each station had a different experience:
AMBRIDGE HEART & SOUL FOLLOWED CDC GUIDELINES FOR SAFETY AT THEIR SUMMER PICNIC EVENTS. PHOTO CREDIT: RUSTBELT MAYBERRY PHOTOGRAPHY / AMBRIDGE HEART & SOUL It will be an uphill battle to earn people’s trust in a town where it wasn’t always easy to be heard. Fortunately, there is training and support from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and the folks at Community Heart & Soul that will help everyone join together and collectively make a lasting impact. This is not new terrain for me as a longtime advocate for civic engagement in Ambridge. The Community Heart & Soul program builds on my own work of making meaningful change through conversations and storytelling. We are on our way to greater inclusivity and shared decision-making with these recent picnics, which engaged those missing voices and helped us learn more about what is important to our community. The next step is identifying shared values, called Heart & Soul Statements. We are setting the stage for meaningful and transformative plans for action! RESIDENTS WROTE THEIR HOPES FOR THE TOWN ON CHALKBOARDS AT THE AMBRIDGE HEART & SOUL PICNICS. PHOTO CREDIT: RUSTBELT MAYBERRY PHOTOGRAPHY / AMBRIDGE HEART & SOUL I can already envision us doing the strategic group events — that we have yet to plan but will be coming in the future — because we laid the foundation and started the conversation. I see our Community Heart & Soul events allowing safe discussions where residents want to connect, converse, and answer real questions about their community in places like the library, parks, and more. Resident-driven starts with residents seeing themselves in positions to be heard! Kudos to our team for being exactly what this community needs to make Ambridge what we all know it can be! Relish the process because we will see results in each event moving forward. I’m pumped! Story time. I was asked to do an interview during the height of the quarantine. This was before we went into the phases of opening the state again and before the protest of masks and the BLM protests.
Over the past 2 weeks I have received a number of calls, visits, messages, and texts checking in on me here is a bit of advice
As many of you are learning about the blind eye and silence moments that you had during the time our lives intertwined. Realize I don't want to relive them, I don't want to be considered a victim of them. I want you to look at me today and realize that I am dope and I chose to move forward without giving in to the stupidity, arrogance, narcissism, and pridefulness of others. I have so many life experiences from having dark skin that I at times I am numb and have to sit back and take care of my mental health.
Do a social experiment for yourself, If you want to know how it kinda feels to have brown skin. Put on a red baseball cap that says make America great again and do not say anything. Go outside your home and around in places of work, community, and go to places that have people who do not know you personally. ‘You’re Supposed To Give Back’: Beaver Co. Woman Teams With Local Groups To Raise Money For Laptops4/9/2020
“People are angry. They don’t understand what to do next. There is confusion,” said Mycyk.
With remote learning, layoffs and kids with homework, Felicia says it’s too much to manage. On her social media page, she’s heard from dozens of families who need help. “You can’t blame the school for not being ready for this because guess what? They were ready for everybody to be in the school,” Mycyk said. With tough choices and many unknowns, Mycyk began partnering with local churches and the Rotary Club to raise money to buy laptops for families in need. “You’re supposed to give back to your community,” said Mycyk. Mycyk says the one thing that can’t be given back is the loss of opportunity now that athletics are canceled for the rest of the academic year, too. “It still hurts. … I have 14 seniors on my team,” Mycyk said. Raeffon Ruskin is one of those seniors on the Ambridge High track & field team. “Working all that time for my senior year to be taken away from me, it breaks my heart,” Ruskin told KDKA. In Ambridge, The Network of Hope, Good Samaritan Church and Rotary Club are all helping to buy laptops for families in need. This article by Pam Surano originally appeared on KDKA. I AM NOT PERFECT -- I have and will mess up again. People who appreciate what I can do take time to speak life into me. They make an effort to help me continue to move forward because they see what I have done and what I am capable of doing. Those who do not really care will be upset because I did not do what THEY thought I should have done. To do the right thing at the right time always is what I hope to be able to do.
Look around at the people you are with most of the time. Are you surrounding yourself with people that want to see you succeed? What kind of energy are these people around you feeding you?
In 2013, When I first came up with creating a hyperlocal website focused on the communities that my local school district served, I thought for sure it would be welcome with open arms from everyone.
I endured racism, sexism, ageism, and probably a few other isms that I don't know the definition of. I thought to myself what's wrong, I came with quality content and a team of skilled people. 2019 my website and social media pages are still going strong with engagements over 75,000. Lion Club District 14- N PDG Thomas Toland and the Ambridge Lion Club members recognized Coach Felicia Mycyk with the Heart of a Lion Award. The award generally is given to a member unless there is a citizen that embodies the Lions Club motto of “serve with uncommon kindness, putting the needs of our neighbors, our communities, and our world first."
![]() Felicia Mycyk is a Rotary tornado because of her many Rotary activities and leadership. She’s also a coach, mother, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and a devoted community leader. Felicia joined Rotary in 2011. Her Rotary activities include serving as a Club Vice-President, then serving as Ambridge Club President for two years. She has chaired several committees including the Annual Community-Wide Car Cruise and Unity Day. She is now the Public Image/Social Media Chair for District 7300. She’s looking forward to her role as an incoming Assistant District Governor. Felicia loves working with children. She heads up a youth program sponsored by the Ambridge Rotary Club that allows school-age children to have a free weekly activity throughout the summer. She started an EarlyAct Club in her local elementary school for 7 students to experience Rotary as early as Kindergarten. She helped the EarlyAct Club do a successful Shoes for Nicaragua project. What Felicia loves most about Rotary is the ability to connect with people locally, nationally and internationally just by being an active Rotarian. She regrets not having more time to devote to Rotary service. She is a Paul Harris Fellow. Since 2006 Felicia has provided consulting services helping businesses, organizations and communities focus on goals, not tasks, in their pursuit of success. She also does motivational speaking and facilitates a workshop for others to set a plan and move forward with their decisions. Felicia tirelessly works to engage her local community, Ambridge, in a meaningful way by changing its conversation and perception. Through her work in the community, she pulled a team together to create Ambridge Connection, a community resource that promotes civic engagement. She 8 loves to write stories, produce videos, and provide live coverage for local happenings that matter to her community. Felicia is a sports Wonder Woman. She played football for the Pittsburgh Passion as a starting cornerback. She coached competition cheerleading, varsity track, various football camps as well as high school and youth football. She now serves as a football coach for Moon Area School District. She also provides one on one speed and agility coaching focusing on multi-directional speed. A former Girl Scout board member and troop leader, Felicia served on various boards throughout the region including Leaders Serving Beaver County and Laughlin Memorial Library. She was recognized with the “Be the Change” award by the Pennsylvania Governor’s Conference for Women. She was honored for her leadership involvement as a coach at the Black History Achievement Award Banquet. 9 Felicia was recently selected as one of the “40 Under 40” to participate in the Legacy Zone Young Professionals Summit in Cleveland. Felicia spends as much time as possible with her husband, Nathaniel, and their four children. She and Nathaniel first met while in elementary school. She moved out of Ambridge for a while and when she returned, they started dating. As an entrepreneur, a mother of four and wife, Felicia had to figure out how to balance her energy. She loves to share her experiences to help empower and inspire others to move to the next level of their lives. Felicia believes that most great achievements are combined efforts doing daily habits and accomplishments. She loves helping others win by inches with play-by-play victories. She finds this calming and relaxing. What a wonderful role model for all of us to emulate. ![]() Esquire Network's gripping docuseries "Friday Night Tykes" returned Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Along with focusing the lens on the iron-belt towns for the first time, the current season, titled "Steel Country," is also special for featuring the first female coach of the series. Felicia Mycyk, who coaches Ambridge Lil Bridgers, is a former female pro-football player. She used to be the starting defensive back on the Pittsburg Passion, which was the first women's football franchise to be featured on ESPN and Sports Illustrated. "Most times when people first see me, they don't realise that I am a football coach. They think that I am a teen mom or a cheer-leading coach," Mycyk revealed in an exclusive clip. However, that is definitely about to change for the inspiring coach, who grew up breathing the game with four competitive brothers. With "Steel Country," Mycyk will show the world why she is a respected coach in her own right. This season, especially, is scared for any coach to prove their worth, considering football is not just a pastime in Western Pennsylvania. This is the birthplace of many NFL greats like Joe Montana, Joe Namath, Mike Ditka, Darrelle Revis, Tony Dorsett and Johnny Unitas. Around these areas, football is a tradition and a birthright. The young boys of these areas are pressured not only by their families and their coaches, but also by their entire communities. This story by Mangala Dilip originally appeared in the IB Times. |