October Alumni Spotlight - Amazing Alumna Arianna

Written by Renee Di Pietro

Arianna Neromiliotis
Sign Language Interpreter
Founder Teenagers, Inc.
Co-Chair City Year Greater Philadelphia Alumni Board

When asked what five things make Arianna Neromiliotis different from the rest of the world, she has quite an array of unique responses; the fourth one she shares affects her daily:

“I work in pre-school, I'm convinced this has taught me everything about life.”

With great wit and eyes that show exactly how awake she is, Arianna smiles with a lot of joy. When meeting her one is convinced that she either must be or should be working with children. She is completely hands-on and very playful as her Tiffany’s open heart necklace swings around her neck, a gift from her mother seven years ago.

“The heart is my favorite shape,” she says. “I don’t think I’ve taken this off in the past seven years.”

Yet don’t assume from this contagious loving, smile that life is nothing but recess for Arianna. Quite the opposite actually, she is a stern, serious business woman when needed; a guru at event planning, and an uncompromising fundraiser when the duty calls, which is quite often due to the collection of hats that she wears.

Arianna did City Year during one of its first years in Philadelphia. She was 17 years old serving in 1999, resulting in her rejoining immediately for a second year. Today Arianna is the co-chair of the Greater Philadelphia Alumni Board, representing City Year Greater Philadelphia at all national alumni events and local City Year events. She is reviving and starting a movement in Philadelphia to get City Year alumni reconnected and in touch again with each other and the organization. She balances this responsibility on top of her other endeavors; and when she runs you through a snapshot of her life, you learn that she would rather not do anything else more with her free time than help others.

Early to rise in the morning, Arianna grabs her coffee and heads to work as a Sign Language Interpreter and a pre-school teacher aide at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. Arianna attended the Community College of Philadelphia and has been involved with the deaf community throughout the city for a long time.

“Arianna is wise beyond her years, very well traveled and uses this knowledge for the betterment of the world one challenge at a time,” says Sandie Chester-Kunkely, a Personal Care Assistant from the Early Childhood Center. “She is always prepared and flexible, and she approaches her work day with a very positive attitude. She brings a wonderful energy to school that I wish more staff would emulate,”

Like an artist creating a language in a picture, Arianna does the same with her hands. If you watch closely enough, she often continues to “sign” no matter what community she is surrounded by, adding to her very vibrant presence in the room.

Arianna’s longest undertaking is a program that she was a founding member of with a group of individuals over 10 years ago. When Arianna was 17-years old, and serving in City Year, she and others cofounded the non-profit Teenagers Inc., which provides a Teen Center and positive activities for teenagers to join and be involved with during their youth. Arianna is still heavily involved with the nonprofit today and has continued to see its growth and success throughout her hometown of Mt. Airy. She considers this to be her greatest accomplishment in her life.

“Kids need a good place to go during this time in their youth,” she says.

Recent travel to Guatemala has engaged the local teens with international activities as well. This was a return trip for some of the kids, as Arianna has organized and escorted a few trips with the teen group during her past summers. She teaches the teens fundraising skills and focuses them on service learning while on their trips. She and the teens work closely and experience solidarity with the people they are working with abroad. A lot of emotions and close bonds are formed during the experience and many of the participants pledge to return again in the future and to be more involved with service work in their own communities. The trips have been to work on house builds in certain areas of Guatemala and also to provide assistance in relief work due to the natural disaster that hit the country this summer.

“I am about twice Arianna's age,” says Sandie, “And I have told her frequently that when I grow up, I want to be her. I admire so much about her.”

Arianna gets her leadership gift from her mother, who she also admits is her greatest teacher. “As cliché as that is, she absolutely is,” she says. “It is the truth. She is someone very active in her community and the city. She showed me early in life that as long as there is a committed group of people working together, you can accomplish whatever you want to do.”

Arianna encourages the young teens that she works with to not be afraid of life. She gives them confidence to think of ways to put themselves out there in the world and how to get on a path to meet their goals. She reminds them as well, “to stay inline with who you are.”

“Everyone has to follow their dream,” she says. “If you really want something, do it.”

And she adds, “If it’s not something that is going to make you any money, but it will make you happy, well being happy is best thing you can ask for. Go for it.”

In the future, Arianna hopes to continue her schooling and finish another program for Interpreting. She is also very excited to see what she can whip up and make happen with her alumni board this year and hopes to see you out at the next City Year Alumni function very soon.



Alumni Highlight Quick Box: Arianna Neromiliotis

Q: What skills or qualities do you believe are your strengths?
A: Passion, Creativity, and Motivation

Q: What five things make you unique?
A: 1. I'm fluent in American Sign Language. 2. I have a phonetically appropriate last name (it's said the way it's spelled) NERO MILI OTIS. 3. This past summer I was on 3 different continents within two weeks. (North American, South American and Europe). 4. I work in Preschool, and I'm convinced this has taught me everything about life. 5. And I love a hot cup of coffee, no matter how hot it is outside.

Q: What has been your proudest moment in life?
A: I have two. One, I built a house in Guatemala, with a service group. Guatemala is the most amazing place, and the people and culture are very unique. Two, being a co-chair of the CY Alumni board; it's one of the most challenging and wonderful jobs I've ever had, and representing Philadelphia makes me very proud!

Q: What is your favorite book or movie? Why?
A: The Harry Potter Books. They can totally take me away and into a completely different world. I love them!

Q: What was your favorite City Year founding story? Why?
A: Starfish Story. I really do still love making a difference.

Q: How many City Year sites do you predict will be open by 2020?
A: I feel like maybe 50. We could go way more international.

Q: Where would you like to see one?
A: I would love to see one in Guatemala or any third world country.