Ymca Honors Baylor Department Director and Student

Baylor University graduate student Yolanda Aguilar and Rosemary West Townsend, director of business affairs and administration for health science in the department of health science, will be honored by the YMCA of Central Texas as Pathfinder recipients at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23, in the Barfield Drawing Room in the Bill Daniel Student Center.
The YMCA of Central Texas will honor 21 McLennan County women for outstanding achievements as part of the Annual Pathfinder and Rountree Oldsmobile Athena Award Ceremony. To be eligible for the award, the winners are required to live in the area and their achievements must identify them as having had a significant impact on the community in the way they improve the lives of others.
Aguilar, who as a student at Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary is pursuing a career as a chaplain, will receive an award for volunteerism. Aguilar devotes her time as a volunteer with Hospice at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center and Providence Health Center. Aguilar also is the first woman to mentor troubled youth at the Bill Logue Juvenile Detention Center.
Townsend will be honored for her civic leadership. She was a delegate for the City of Waco at the Presidential Summit for America's Future in 1997 and became the adult advisor for the Youth Summit for America's Future in Waco. Townsend helped design a model summit program that coined the nationally used phrase, "I dream of a community where..." Youth complete the sentence determining what needs to happen in their community. Townsend is also active with the McLennan County Youth Collaboration and Lighted Schools, another program to receive national attention. Townsend trains Baylor students to serve as mentors in the Lighted Schools program.
The award ceremony is open to the community and tickets are $25. For more information, contact Whitney Farr, YMCA women's program director, at 776-6612.