Youth Advisory Board (YAB)

Lila Boutin (she/her)

Lila Boutin (she/her) is a senior at School One. Aside from academics, she is involved in many leadership positions and creative endeavors. She is committed to helping the health and wellness of her school and community; she is the elected representative of the student body to her school board, she participates on her student council’s Community Reconciliation Committee, and she is the chief editor of the yearbook.

She also is a dancer on the internationally regarded professional dance crew LIV3LIHOOD; she teaches dance classes to a variety of levels and ages and enjoys sharing the joy of dance with everyone, including by volunteering to teach senior classes at an assisted living facility.

She is the creator of a project that works on conservation and hiking initiatives across Rhode Island, and she is an intern with the Stormwater Innovation Center and Audubon Society participating in pioneering research and advocacy projects in local green spaces.

She works as an art and architecture tour guide of Providence, and she is passionate about photography, art, writing, reading, and nature. She is excited to bring her experiences and thoughts to the YAB to make a difference in the state of mental health and media use today.

Passionate about mental health advocacy, Hanna has attended and participated in several mental health awareness conferences over the past year. This passion ultimately led her to Project DREAMS, where she hopes to contribute meaningfully to ongoing research and inspire change. Looking ahead, Hanna aspires to pursue a career in nursing, in hopes to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

Bailey Borkowski (she/her)

Bailey Borkowski (she/her) is a senior at Coventry High School. She is an aspiring physician and dreams of working in a hospital alongside other healthcare professionals. Aside from her commitment to academics, she is involved in a number of extracurriculars.

She has a competitive spirit —competing state-wide in her school’s math club and internationally winning gold on her dance studio’s competition team. Having always had a musical inclination, Bailey also takes violin lessons and expresses her artistic skills through crochet and ceramics and well. She volunteers with Brown University Health’s Hospital in Providence during school breaks and her love for the environment has only grown.

With a strong cultural connection, Bailey takes classes at Rhode Island Korean School and is the president of her school’s World Language Club. This club focuses on celebrating and learning about the holidays from global cultures from the accessibility of her school .

Bailey has had a strong passion for the health sciences since she was young, which aligned with the motives of Project DREAMS and encouraged her to join.  On school breaks and long weekends Bailey makes it a priority to get time in the clinical setting as well, shadowing and learning about the different positions, primarily in Brown Physician’s office facilities across the state .

Laila Hekking (she/her) is a sophomore attending Rogers High School in Newport, RI. Laila joined the Project DREAMS YAB to share her thoughts and learn new perspectives from others.

She plays soccer as well as lacrosse and is active within her community, and extracurricular activities at school like Key Club, Women Who Lead and is apart of the Diversity and Relevancy Committee.

Laila has a strong passion for learning and is interested in psychology and the medical field, being on this board has allowed her explore this interest authentically and learn more about how sleep, social media, and substances take part in teenagers lives. Outside of school, she enjoys going to the gym, baking, traveling, and hanging out with friends!

Gianna Cimorelli (she/her) is a junior at La Salle Academy. At school, she’s a member of the Scholars Program, Peer Leadership, and Student Ambassadors. She participates in a variety of clubs, ranging from academic-focused groups to those centered on arts and creativity.

She has a deep passion for cognitive sciences and learning languages such as French and Spanish. She hopes to put these passions into her career, as a physician, striving to make a meaningful difference in the world. Aside from academics, she is an active member in her community, volunteering at the local food pantry and supporting numerous school events.

In her free time, she enjoys painting, running, ballet, reading, and exploring movie and music culture. With all of her interests, passions, and efforts, she hopes to help people, especially in contribution to Project DREAMS. Her enthusiasm for the medical field fuels her in every way, to one day achieve the position of a physician, specializing in the field of neuroscience.

Luis Tornez (he/him)

Luis Tornez (he/him) is from Providence, Rhode Island. He just started his freshman year at URI and something interesting about him is he really loves promoting mental health. It’s something he’s struggled with for most of his life so far and now that he’s finally put a foot on the path to feeling better about himself and the world, he wants to help others do the same.

He loves pop punk music, skeletons and skulls, the colors black and purple, and spending time with people, whether that be family, friends, mentors, or people that just want someone to talk to.