LEOMINSTER — Ivy Sasu is feeling a gamut of emotions as she wraps up not only her high school career but the successful “Celebrating the Success of Women of Color” speaker series she spearheaded while at Leominster High School.
The senior, who is on the brink of graduation this coming weekend, invited former Olympian Zara Northover to address the students earlier this month as part of the speaker series she launched in May of last year.
“She discussed her journey of finding who she is,” Sasu said of the message the Jamaican shot-putter imparted to the students on May 12. “She described what it means to be encouraged but also to believe in oneself. She encouraged students to follow a method a former coach taught her — daily go into the mirror and repeat these words ‘I am great, and I will do great things.’ She told the students to believe these words and some students got the opportunity to do this at the event.”
Sasu conveyed that the speaking engagement “was very successful” and followed by a lunch with a small group “that was nurturing.”
She went on to say that she is proud of the speaker series and incredibly thankful to those who have supported it, including the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts which provided a $7,500 grant Sasu applied for to fund it and former longtime LHS Principal Steve Dubzinski, without who the series “would not have started.”

“As this was my last speaker series, it is so so bittersweet,” Ivy Sasu expressed. “I can’t believe how far the speakers series has come and I am beyond grateful for the support of [LHS Principal] Dr. Josh Romano, Superintendent Paula Deacon, and the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts. With their support, as well as my amazing family, I have been able to place a home for the speakers series.”
She went on to say that her younger sister Princess Sasu, who is going into her sophomore year at LHS, will take over running the speaker series.
“She is beyond qualified, and I am excited to see what she does,” Ivy Sasu said of her sibling continuing the family legacy. “I am so glad I get to watch this grow.”
With graduation right around the corner on June 3, the hardworking and determined young woman said earning her high school degree and heading off to college as a biology major is the realization of a dream of hers.
“It’s all so exciting and nerve wracking at once,” Ivy shared. “I am so excited to see where God takes me and my peers!”