Sixty-two outstanding students from across Texas completed the 2021–2022 Lone Star Leadership Academy Alumni Council program. Members represented 38 school districts, four private schools, three charter schools, and one home school. You may read about each of the member’s individual projects, in the printable Lone Star Leadership Academy Alumni Council Newsletter!
Avery S., First-year member
Project: Bears for a Purpose – Avery and her friend developed guidelines on bears that could be donated to Cook Children’s Hospital. These guidelines were provided by a chaplain within the Spiritual Care Department of Cook Children’s Hospital to be sure the bears were safe to give to patients with compromised immune systems. Avery and her friend, with the assistance of Avery’s teacher, principal, and assistant principal, communicated these guidelines to the students of her school. As a result, 44 bears were donated and delivered to the Cook Children’s Hospital Spiritual Care Department to provide comfort to the young patients. Avery said, “There will always be problems along the way, but if it’s something you really want, those problems will be nothing.” Sponsor: Rebecca Berthold, Teacher.
Ainise Havili, Haltom High School class of 2014 alum, was hired as the assistant volleyball coach at Purdue University.
Havili, a three-time AVCA All-American with the Kansas Jayhawks, joins the Purdue staff as the volunteer assistant coach. During her time as a Jayhawk (2014–17), Havili became the first player in Big 12 Conference history to be named Big 12 Setter of the Year. Additionally, Havili’s success led to four First Team All-Big 12 and AVCA All-Midwest Region First Team accolades and culminated in becoming Kansas’ All-Time Assists leader.
Following her collegiate career, Havili played overseas from 2019–21 for the Allianz MTV Stuttgart in Germany (2019–2020) and Karayolları Spor Kulübü in Turkey (2020–21) before returning stateside. Since then, the former setter served as an assistant coach for the Texas Image Volleyball Club while working for Signature Consultants as a recruiter.
Havili graduated from Kansas in May 2018 with a bachelor of science in sports management and earned a master’s in marketing from the University of Arizona in 2019 while competing for the Wildcats’ beach volleyball team.
