Junior Leadership Northeast Honors Class of 2025

WILKES-BARRE — Students from 17 area high schools graduated from the Junior Leadership Northeast (JLNE) program on Wednesday night at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts.

In total, 67 graduates made up the Class of 2025.

Throughout the school year, the students attended hands-on seminars and were tasked with applying the skills they gained during those seminars to execute Community Impact Projects. In addition to benefiting a number of local organizations through their projects, the students also served their community.

JLNE Executive Director Jessica Cronauer welcomed the audience, but made sure to pay tribute to the late Bill Wagner, who was a longtime teacher and contributor to JLNE’s advisory council. Wagner passed away in January, and Cronauer dedicated the graduation ceremony to him.

Wagner’s son, Jason, a graduate of the Leadership Northeast program, was invited to the stage to offer remarks regarding his father’s legacy. Jason also announced the establishment of the Bill Wagner Scholarship, which will be given to one of the 2025 JLNE graduates next year.

“He just enjoyed to have conversation with anyone he came across and to brighten anyone’s day,” Jason said of his father. “So as much as his humility will hate it, we look forward to sharing more details about the scholarship named after him. He would hate it that we named something after him, but we’re going to do it. And we look forward to interviewing potential candidates for this scholarship next year.”

With the focus back on the graduates, Joey Allegrucci of the Wyoming Area took the microphone over to serve as the graduation’s master of ceremonies. Allegrucci, in turn, introduced three of his fellow 2025 graduates — Emily Bolan of Wyoming Valley West, Abigail Francis of Wyoming Area, and Kevin Vincent of Holy Cross — to offer a glimpse into the JLNE experience.

Bolan, Francis, and Vincent went month-by-month through the JLNE program, during which they encountered a number of community leaders and developed their Community Impact Projects. Upon returning to podium, Allegrucci clearly summarized the projects’ goals.

“These [Community Impact Projects] represent months of teamwork, creativity and commitment,” said Allegrucci. “Keep in mind that each of these projects are student-led from start to finish, that they are solving real issues in the community.”

Each student had the opportunity to speak about the contributions they brought to their team’s project, making up the core and longest portion of the graduation ceremony. Following the project presentations, the students were called on stage to receive their certificates.

A release from JLNE describes the selection process for participating in the program:

“In the spring of each year, Leadership Northeast accepts applications from high school sophomores interested in participating in the JLNE program the following fall. Applications are available at all participating public and private schools and must be submitted through the participating high school guidance office. The JLNE Class of 2026 has been finalized and will begin their program in the fall of 2025.”