MassBay Community College student, Nathan Persampieri of Newton, MA, has been recognized by the Kraft family and the New England Patriots Foundation with the “Patriots Difference Maker of the Week Award.” Persampieri, who studies liberal arts, was selected for his commitment and volunteerism with the Newton, MA, nonprofit organization, Understanding Our Differences.
“I am humbled and honored to receive this award,” said Persampieri. “I would like to thank Understanding Our Differences and the New England Patriots for recognizing my efforts. Building awareness of people’s differences and creating an inclusive community is important and vital work in which I’m proud to take part.”
The mission of Understanding Our Differences is to educate communities to value and accept people of all abilities through school-based, interactive disability awareness programs. The nonprofit serves more than 80 schools in eastern Massachusetts and beyond and is committed to teaching students to see the whole person and better understand their disabilities.
Persampieri started volunteering with Understanding Our Differences in 2017, when he was a student at Newton North High School. Since that time, he has become an advocate, ambassador, speaker, volunteer, and part of the advisory board where he meets with city leaders to raise the profile of people with disabilities and encourages them to create new programs that raise awareness and promote inclusion.
Persampieri is scheduled to graduate with his Associate in Arts degree in Liberal Arts in May 2022, with plans to transfer to a four-year university to pursue his bachelor’s degree.
Well done, Nathan!
Congratulations, Nathan! So well deserved.
Well done!
Very cool, Nathan!
way to go Nathan AND
Understanding your differences is a fantastic organization!!!
Well done and well deserved!
Congratulations, Nathan! A well deserved honor.
Nathan, you’ve accomplished so much and you’ve only just begun to make a difference. Congratulations! Proud to call you friend!
KUDOS, Nathan!
Nathan is a great young man doing good and necessary work on behalf of persons with disabilities. Over the past two years, he has assisted the Newton Commission On Disability on various projects. His astute input has proven beneficial to the larger community.
Thanks all! Sometimes life gets hard for me, but work like this keeps me going! It is very important, and I think Newton (and other cites) need to do more of this work
Congratulations Nathan! As a family that supports UOD and as an individual with an “invisible” disability who has benefitted from the work that UOD does, thank you for all that you are contributing to our community. Congratulations again and best wishes for all that comes next.
Nathan is an incredible young man who’s already made such an impact on Newton and the greater community. Nathan also served as a youth member of the Newton Human Rights Commission, where he was a tireless advocate for people of all backgrounds and abilities.
Nathan is a brave guy who has wisdom far beyond his young age. He realizes that the best way to help himself is to help other people, but that it works best by subordinating his own challenges to those of the people he’s trying to identify with. In Nathan’s case, those challenges are indeed immense. I was particularly moved by the “Beyond Kindness” sessions he organized where students get together to open up with their problems and draw strength from each other. I have two navy buddies who live in different states, but who had to live through similar emotional upheavals when a grandchild committed suicide. Both suicides came as a complete surprise; the one overriding fact was that neither kid ever talked about what was bothering them. The power of talking and identification is so powerful and so liberating.
Hats off, too, to the “Understanding Our Differences” program. I’ve talked to several sessions with 4th and 5th graders about how I overcame some of my learning disabilities. Nothing like Cerebral Palsy, but it did an emotional job on me. The kids I talk with have already talked their difficulties out and can even laugh at some of it. Folks from my generation just suffered them in silence.
Nathan is an amazing young man and I feel honored that he chose to do an internship in my office as a senior at Newton South High School when I was the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities. We learned so much from him and I have loved following him on his Facebook page. He has perseverance and determination and I know he will succeed it whatever he sets out to do.
Congratulations Nathan on being recognized by the New England Patriots Foundation, well deserved.