Vontella or as she’s better known as V is a native of Lexington. An avid tennis player and reader she can be found trying new restaurants around Lexington with Kindle in hand. Though Lexington is her hometown, she left to attend undergraduate studies at the University of Alabama. During her summers in college she worked at an all girls summer camp, starting as a tennis counselor and ending after 5 years as the Program Director.  After leaving Alabama she spent a year working in New York and a year working in DC before coming home to continue her education. Through an eclectic mix of experience and schooling she has had the opportunity to work in youth development, Human Resources, leadership dynamics and many other interesting fields. 

Now as the Director of Student Y for the Kentucky YMCA Youth Association, she’s tasked with ensuring Kentucky’s 6,000+ Youth and Government participants remain engaged when not at conference. Her work focuses on guiding young people through the  three pillars of Student Y: civic engagement, servant leadership, and professional development. Her goal is for every Kentucky student to not only feel empowered to make a difference but to have the skills and tools at their disposal to make change happen. 

Through on site trainings with students, virtual content creation, and partnerships with people and organizations across the state V is working to organize student organizers. It is important to V that Student Y will always be the place for every type of student to learn, grow, and thrive.