MAHANOY CITY - Mahanoy City borough council honored two Mahanoy Area graduates for leading a project that led to the return of fireworks for the Independence Day weekend.
The recognition came at the start of the borough council's meeting on Tuesday with certificates of recognition presented to 2014 Mahanoy Area graduates Tyler Cavenas and Greg Merchlinsky, who led the fundraising effort to pay for the fireworks display.
"I'd like to take the privilege of recognizing two high school students, and, yes, one happens to be my nephew, so I am proud," council Vice President Raymond Cavenas said. "These two guys took the initiative and got the fireworks back."
The two former seniors were accompanied by high school Principal Thomas Smith, who was adviser on the project.
The students put together the Schuylkill County Youth Summit project to raise funds in order to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks on July 5. The last holiday fireworks display, which was sponsored by the borough fire department, was in 2009. This year's project raised more than $6,000, with the borough making the arrangements for the display.
Raymond Cavenas presented the certificates to the teens and shook their hands to the applause of the residents who filled the meeting room. He added that fundraising has started for next year's fireworks program.
"If you want to make a donation, we'll take them here at the borough office or at the school district, where they'll be put into the student activity fund, and they'll keep it going as a senior project," he said.
Councilwoman Patti Schnitzius, who chairs the council's recreation committee, expressed her gratitude for the work done by Cavenas and Merchlinsky.
"I'd like to say that I am so proud that our youth became involved in an event like this," Schnitzius said. "You stood up to do something that you can be proud of. You did something so nice for the community. It was packed and everybody enjoyed it. Thank you for your initiative, thank you for thinking about the community, and I'm sure both of you will both go very far in life with the kind of attitude that you have."
Merchlinsky explained that the first youth summit project in 2013 was cleaning the sidewalks and streets in preparation for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the borough.
"We wanted to do a bigger and better project this year," Merchlinsky said. "What the youth summit does is give you the chance to speak to people in your community and county to develop something big, and that's where we got the idea of the fireworks."