Madeline Mobarry is your typical teenage girl. She is in her junior year at Northmont. She is currently looking at colleges for when she is done with high school. Madeline hasn’t decided on a school just yet. She is in the process of trying to tie down on where she wants to go. In the meantime, she has started doing some college courses through a program that is available for her at school. This past weekend she was part of the production of “Seussical!” from the Muse Machine, playing her double bass. She also plays in the Northmont Orchestra, and Northmont Jazz Band.
Madeline, like everyone, has big dreams and big goals that she wants to achieve.
Her determination and drive has led her to reach some goals at an early age. During the summer between her 7th and 8th grade, she needed to find a way to fund her trip to the class trip to Washington, D.C. The two fundraisers Madeline could have partaken in were not really helpful so she had to go a different direction.
She devised a plan that was different from what most would do to make money-she started collecting aluminum cans.
Aluminum cans were all around Madeline. At her home, her school, her families homes, the park, etc. She received cans from her neighbors, the indoor soccer complex in her hometown in Englewood. Other businesses helped Madeline with her collecting of the cans. In the end, she made enough money to go on the trip.
Mobarry has been playing since her 5th grade year when she had to decide on either playing an instrument or singing. She also picked up on the double bass because her father plays bass. After a while, she wanted to go and try out for the Dayton Philharmonic Youth Strings group. The gathering of cans gave her the ability to pay for the double bass that she plays with and she got in.
Over the past few years, she has attended the Mozart Festival in Athens, Ohio, which she spent a week at Ohio University and has also attended the Miami Valley Jazz camp. With the experiences she has obtained, she decided to go one of her biggest goals to date.
In June, Madeline has been chosen to participate and be a member of the International Youth Symphony Orchestra (a part of the Blue Lake International Exchange Program). The IYSO – an extension of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp program – encourages creativity and the motivation of young people to achieve in the arts, while also creating international understanding through the arts. Madeline is the only person in the Dayton group that has been invited. Rehearsals will be at Blue Lake, which is located in Michigan, and they will be visiting France, Germany and Luxembourg.
In order for her to pay for the trip, Madeline once again hit the pavement looking to see if anyone would be willing to help her. She has contacted a 100-plus businesses, hoping that they give her the chance to maybe have a shot on making this dream a possibility. The amount she needs in order to go is $4750. One organization received her email, and immediately jumped on board was Involvement Advocacy.
“I received e-mail from Madeline and then I received a call from her shortly after”, explained Peter Benkendorf, who is founder and president of Involvement Advocacy in Dayton. The group recently held the event Drum Dayton in downtown back in the beginning of November. “I do not know many teens with the drive and the confidence to do that.” Benkendorf soon met up with Madeline, and decided that we would help her on the journey towards making enough to go on her trip. Benkendorf has set up a special scholarship account at Involvement Advocacy allowing folks to make a tax-deductible donation. Madeline has already raised $1250 and the Involvement Advocacy wants to reach the goal balance of $3500.
In the meantime, Madeline is keeping focused on her goal. She keeps churning out time on her double bass and collecting cans from various establishments and anyone who wants to help. When you sit down with her, you hear a teenage girl who is well beyond her years. With this huge goal on her shoulders, you would think that trying to achieve this vision would become overwhelming. Especially when you have the schedule like she does.
Yet it doesn’t even appear to get to her.
It’s easy to do be that way when you have big dreams that you want to make happen.
Here is how you can help Madeline reach her goal and help her live out a dream:
For credit card donations, click on: https://npo.justgive.org/nonprofits/donate.jsp?ein=36-3826422.
If you want to send a check, send to:
INVOLVEMENT ADVOCACY
P.O. Box 10506
Dayton, Ohio 45402
Note: Include “Madeline Mobarry IYS” on check memo or credit card dedication.
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