“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”
- Margaret Fuller, writer – newspaper correspondent (1810 – 1850)

The Athena YouAreYou Young Women’s Mentoring Program was the brainchild of the late Rose S. Tucker, who was elected and served as a Luzerne County Commissioner from 1992 to 1996. Rose was awarded the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry Athena Award in 1995.

Commissioner Tucker had long believed that an outreach program focused on assisting youth in developing self-esteem and moral character should be developed and offered to students in area school districts. Through her vast and diverse associations, and in collaboration with other Athena Award recipients and area women of distinction, Rose was able to realize that vision through the inaugural YouAreYou Young Women’s Mentoring Program held in 2007. It was her deepest desire to ensure the program becomes a sustainable and valuable resource to young women, initially in Luzerne County, and through a cooperative effort, in other school districts and counties in the region.

Inspired by the vision of Rose Tucker, the YouAreYou Young Women’s Mentoring Program is being coordinated and presented by the Wilkes-Barre Area Athena Award winners with the goal of providing young women with the tools they need to be strong, secure and proud of being themselves.  The Athena women, honored for their achievement in business and their personal lives along with their commitment to community, have taken on this project because of their belief in mentoring young women just as they were mentored in their own lives.

PREVIOUS ATHENA RECIPIENTS:
1985 – Anne Vernon
1986 – Sue Kluger
1987 – Mary Ann Keirans
1988 – Evelyn Gurbst
1989 – Phyllis Belk
1990 – Ruth Borland
1991 – Anna Cervenak
1992 – Joan Evans
1993 – Susan Shoval
1994 – Rosemary Sigmond
1995 – Rose Tucker
1996 – Not awarded
1997 – Ina Lubin
1998 – Elly Miller
1999 – Christine McLaughlin
2000 – Phyllis Mundy
2001 – Ellen Smith
2002 – Mary Erwine
2003 – Denise Cesare
2004 – Judith Ellis
2005 – Maureen Bufalino
2006 – Dr. Patricia Donohue
2007 – Jill Fortinsky Schwartz
2008  – Senator Lisa Baker
2009 – Marilyn Millington
2009 – Elizabeth Graham
2010 – Donna Sedor