ATHENA-Indiana

INDIANA, Pa. – The Indiana County ATHENA Leadership Award Recipients, working closely with the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce, have opened nominations for the 2024 ATHENA and ATHENA Young Professional Award.

Nomination forms are available on the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce website. Nominations are due by Sept. 6.

Community businesses, organizations and clubs, and individuals are invited to make nominations for the ATHENA Leadership Award and the ATHENA Young Professional Award.

The ATHENA Award recognizes career or professional excellence, leadership in community service, and individuals who mentor and open doors of leadership opportunities for women. The ATHENA Young Professional Award honors an individual who is under the age of 40 and who demonstrates excellence, creativity, and initiative in his or her business or profession. A committee from outside Indiana County judges the nominations.

Nominees may be men or women, but nominees must reside in Indiana County. Nominees must also commit to being available for the Emerging Women Leaders Luncheon event on Oct. 16, when the awards are presented.

S&T Bank, Colonial Motor Mart and the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce are the ATHENA program event sponsors. Renda Broadcasting and the Indiana Gazette are media sponsors.

In addition to the ATHENA awards, the 2024 Spadafora Family Scholarship will be presented at the Emerging Women Leaders Luncheon on Oct. 16. The event is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Indiana Country Club. Registration forms and fees for the luncheon are available on the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce website. The Emerging Women Leaders Luncheon event is open to the community and will include attendance by area high school ATHENA Club students. There are three Indiana County high school ATHENA Clubs: Indiana Area High School, Marion Center High School, and United High School.

The Spadafora Family Scholarship was presented for the first time at the 2023 Emerging Women Leaders Luncheon. Application information for the Spadafora Family ATHENA Scholarship will be sent in September to Indiana County ATHENA Club advisors.

This $5,000 scholarship, donated by the Spadafora family of Indiana, is open to a high school senior from an Indiana County ATHENA club. This scholarship is established in honor and memory of the late Chuck Spadafora, who initiated the awards in Indiana and Pennsylvania. Spadafora received the ATHENA Leadership Award in 2002.

For many years, the ATHENA awards were presented during the Indiana County Leader’s Circle evening event. In 2023, the Indiana County ATHENA recipients group, working with the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana County Leader’s Circle, launched a new format for the awards presentation, including changing the format to a daytime event to encourage attendance by students from the high school ATHENA Clubs.

At the 2023 event, more than 40 high school ATHENA Club members were in attendance, along with more than 100 members of the community, including five finalists for the ATHENA leadership award and six finalists for the ATHENA Young Professional Award.

In addition to recognition in the media, finalists for the ATHENA awards will be “revealed” at a Chamber After Hours event sponsored by S&T Bank at S&T Bank, 800 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, from 5 to 7 p.m.

Since 2013 (with years missed in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the Indiana County ATHENA Recipient group has hosted an Emerging Women Leaders luncheon to celebrate and inspire middle and high school ATHENA Club students, attended by many female business leaders in the area, including ATHENA Award and Civic Leader Award recipients.

“The Emerging Women Leaders Luncheon has continued to be a great success, due in major part to the sponsorship and support of the community,” Indiana County ATHENA Recipients Group chair Ellen Ruddock said. Ruddock is the first ATHENA Award recipient in Pennsylvania and Indiana County and is retired as a director emerita of the ATHENA International Board of Directors.

“As we thought about ways to focus on the ATHENA principles, especially the principal of building relationships and encouraging others, we felt that one of the best ways of bringing the examples of leadership to our youth was to join the ATHENA Awards presentation and the Emerging Women Leaders together into one event,” she said. “The Spadafora Family ATHENA Scholarship is an excellent way of demonstrating the commitment to leadership and excellence that the ATHENA Leadership model is all about,” Ruddock said.

“The Spadafora family and Colonial Motor Mart have been champions for youth and for women’s leadership for decades,” Ruddock said. “We are so grateful for their generosity and for their long-time commitment to opening doors of opportunity for so many emerging leaders.”

Ruddock also praised S&T Bank for their sponsorship of the ATHENA program, especially for S&T’s support and work to offer the ATHENA leadership model in Indiana County schools.

“S&T Bank and S&T Board of Directors Chair Christine Toretti, who is an ATHENA Global Award recipient, have been extraordinary in their support and hands-on work to provide the ATHENA leadership training in the schools,” Ruddock said.

“It truly takes a community to support a program like this,” Ruddock said. “Indiana County is so fortunate to have incredible individuals and businesses, who care deeply about leadership and service, and developing leadership in our youth,” she said.