Laura Glesby photo
Rania Das, Amir Foster, Amare Foster, and Troy Moore.
Three decorated national boxing champions and a Pulitzer-winning writer visited the Board of Alders chamber in City Hall this week as honored guests.
All of them were teenagers.
The teens — Amir Foster, Amare Foster, Troy Moore, and Rania Das — gathered inside the Board of Alders chamber Tuesday night to receive aldermanic citations from Newhallville/Dixwell/Prospect Hill Alder Troy Streater and Beaver Hills Alder Gary Hogan.
Moore and the Fosters, all members of Get ‘Em Boy boxing gym, were recognized for numerous national boxing achievements. They arrived at City Hall proudly representing their gym, posing for photos requested by family, alders, and other community supporters.
Das, meanwhile, was recognized for winning the Pulitzer Center’s Local Letters for Global Change contest in the human rights category. An 11th grader at Hopkins School, she had written a letter to State Senator Gary Winfield questioning the efficacy of body camera footage in police accountability efforts.
Two of the awardees, Amir and Amare Foster, are brothers. Fourteen-year-old Amir, a student at Hillhouse, has won two national silver gloves and a Sugar Bert award. Twelve-year-old Amare, a student at Wexler Grant, has won a gold medal in the junior Olympics as well as a silver glove.
Asked for any advice to younger kids looking up to their achievements, Amir said he encourages them to “keep working on it.”
“Some days, I don’t feel like going to the gym,” echoed Amare. “Even if you get tired, keep pushing.”
Presenting the four teens with their awards, Streater said, “We must always remember that the children are our future and we must always support them.”
Once the awards were handed out, alders delved into city budget deliberations, with a school budget deficit at the center of debate.
