Rays of Hope Team
Jayla - President
Jayla is a 15 year old sophomore with an interest in Law, Social Justice and Advocacy. She is currently a student in the Law Enforcement and Public Safety Program at Manalapan High School. During her Freshman year, she was an honor student and an active part of the Manalapan High School Student Government. She has also been involved in many valuable discussions in high school such as the Equity Dialogue Conference and contributed to key discussions with the School Board to improve the experience of students.
Being a part of the student council, she participated in many community service projects and activities to boost student morale. She is also the Secretary of the Minority Initiative Club and the Treasurer of the Student council at her school. She participated in YEA Camp, a social justice camp, and has also represented Rays of Hope in numerous panel discussions on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Education with the Ocean County Prosecutor's office. She has served as Vice President and on the Planning committee of Rays of Hope. She is excited and honored about the opportunity to serve as President. It is her goal to lead this great organization with purpose and passion.
Tyler - Vice President
Tyler is 16 years old. She has been a proud member of Rays of Hope for 6 years and looks forward to her new Vice President position for 2022-2023 season. She is an activist and loves to spend her free time serving communities in need. She is a High Honor Roll student in the International Baccalaureate Program at Freehold Township High School, a program recognized nationally that gives opportunities to engage in higher education. Tyler is intelligent, passionate, diligent, and insightful.
She is very involved in school. She is a two season athlete which entails winter basketball and spring track. She is on the executive board of Lead For Diversity, an organization that targets inclusion; increases awareness; challenges bias, bullying, and oppression for minorities. She also is very active on the Speech and Debate Team at her school.
She also demonstrates leadership in her community. She is in her second term as the President of the Teen Connection group of the Jersey Shore Chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc. Additionally, she is currently working on her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve.
She has participated in the Black Girls Rock conference for two years, At the Well Conference and YEA Camp. All of these experiences allowed her to practice the leadership skills and passion for advocating for social justice issues that she learned from Rays of Hope.
She is extremely grateful for the support she gets from her community and all the opportunities she gets in her life. Tyler is honored to be serving as Co-Vice President of Rays of Hope.