Lutherville and Reisterstown students earn $1,000 awards, engraved medallions and trip to nation's capital
Honors also bestowed on youth volunteers in Camp Springs, Taneytown, Montgomery Village, Chesapeake Beach, Bel Air, and Bethesda
Forrest Carroll, 17, of Lutherville and Victoria Brown, 14, of Reisterstown today were named Maryland's top two youth volunteers for 2010 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 15th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).
Forrest was nominated by The Park School of Baltimore, and Victoria was nominated by Krieger Schechter Day School in Baltimore. As State Honorees, each will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion, and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for several days of national recognition events. Ten of them will be named America's top youth volunteers for 2010 at that time.
Forrest, a senior at The Park School of Baltimore, has been a leader of a Habitat for Humanity chapter at his school for the past four years, helping to raise close to $600,000 and build homes for six low-income families. "Since that day when I was accepted as a Habitat leader in ninth grade, Park Habitat for Humanity has been an enormous part of my life," he said.
Forrest plays a key role in conducting fund-raisers that bring in more than $100,000 a year, such as an annual 5K run, a phone-a-thon, and a program that does small construction and painting jobs for homeowners in return for donations. He is responsible for organizing, supervising, and working on home construction projects in Baltimore City. In addition, he delivers presentations about Habitat to schools, corporations, and national youth conferences; coordinates with city and school officials; and mentors underclassmen and students from other schools. Forrest is now working on an ambitious new Habitat initiative that will seek to assemble a coalition of schools throughout his region to build an entire block of new affordable homes at a time. "I have learned the incredible impact people can have when they work together as one," he said.
Victoria, an eighth-grader at Krieger Schechter Day School, has personally raised more than $1,600 for the Save Darfur Coalition by making and selling safety pin jewelry and chocolate candies, and has spent a great deal of time over the past few years making people aware of atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan. When Victoria first learned about the situation in Darfur, "what really caught my attention was that, even after atrocities such as the Holocaust and Rwanda, people could still allow such treacherous things to happen to other people," she said.
She joined her school's Darfur club and soon became co-leader of the group. In addition, she began creating beaded safety pins to raise money for refugees. She stayed after school three or four days a week, threading the pins with colored beads in the image of hearts, soccer balls, animals, and American flags. She then sold them at school for $1 each, and received so many orders that she had to teach other young people how to make them. To collect more funds, Victoria made chocolate candies in the shape of smiling faces, and sold them through local businesses with a description of the Darfur crisis attached. "Just the thought that the money I was raising was helping these unfortunate people and giving them healthy food, medical supplies, and clean water was incredibly rewarding," she said. Victoria also talks frequently to others about Darfur, and has participated in lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.
In addition, the program judges recognized six other Maryland students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion:
Daniel Artin, 17, of Camp Springs, a senior at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, taught math, English, and science last summer to HIV-infected children at an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. After being tutored by Daniel, all 16 kids at the Artists for Charity orphanage passed the entrance examination for a private high school.
Josephine Grant, 15, of Taneytown, a freshman at Francis Scott Key High School in Union Bridge, collected more than $6,500 worth of toys, baby items, candy, and books for Carroll Hospital Center's pediatric unit, emergency room, and Family Birthplace. She also gathered newborn garments and receiving blankets after hospital funding for these items ended.
Branden Kerr, 16, of Montgomery Village, a junior at Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg, has volunteered for a wide variety of community service projects since 2004. He has worked with underprivileged kids in inner-city Washington; raised money for the National Center for Children and Families, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes; and helped a ministry feed the homeless in southeastern D.C. Branden also has spent many hours providing administrative support and audiovisual services to his high school.
Lauren McClellan, 17, of Chesapeake Beach, a senior at Huntingtown High School in Huntingtown, created a program called "Making Musik" that collects musical instruments, supplies, and lesson books for disadvantaged children interested in studying music. Lauren, an accomplished violinist, solicits donations from music stores and the community, and then coordinates with school music teachers throughout her county to redistribute instruments and music materials confidentially to children in need.
Brendan Moore, 17, of Bel Air, a senior at Patterson Mill High School, led his family on two trips to Zambia and then to Guatemala to provide supplies and support to HIV-infected orphans and impoverished families. During their trips, they distributed medical and dental items and school supplies that they had collected back home, and participated in community construction projects.
Meghan Quinn, 18, of Bethesda, a senior at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, serves as a volunteer emergency medical technician and firefighter with the Glen Echo Fire Department in Bethesda. After many hours of classroom instruction and field work, Meghan passed tests and was voted in as a member of the department, where she now works at least 12 hours a week, serving as a duty crew leader and an ambulance crew aide, ordering and distributing uniforms and gear, and giving presentations on fire safety. She also wrote a children's book and pamphlets about fire safety.
"People as caring and committed as these young students are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our cities and our nation," said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. "By recognizing these honorees, we hope to encourage other young people – our future leaders – and all Americans to think more about the value and importance of volunteering in their communities."
"The young people recognized by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards demonstrate an enormous capacity for giving and reaching out to those in need," said Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. "NASSP is proud to honor these student leaders because they are wonderful examples of the high caliber of young people in our nation's schools today."
All public and private middle level and high schools in the country, as well as all Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November. Nearly 5,000 Local Honorees were then reviewed by an independent judging panel, which selected State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists based on criteria such as personal initiative, creativity, effort, impact and personal growth.
While in Washington, D.C., the 102 State Honorees will tour the capital's landmarks, attend a gala awards ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and visit their congressional representatives on Capitol Hill. In addition, 10 of them – five middle level and five high school students – will be named National Honorees on May 3 by a prestigious national selection committee. These honorees will receive additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions, crystal trophies, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit, charitable organizations of their choice.
Serving on the national selection committee will be Strangfeld of Prudential; Steven Pophal, president of NASSP; Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of the Points of Light Institute & Hands On Network; Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO of the America's Promise Alliance; Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council; Pamela Farr, the American Red Cross' national chair of volunteers; Elson Nash, associate director for project management at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; and two 2009 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Shardy Camargo of Orlando, Fla., and Colin Leslie of Rye, N.Y.
In addition to granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program will distribute President's Volunteer Service Awards to more than 2,800 of its Local Honorees this year on behalf of President Obama. The President's Volunteer Service Award recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities and their country.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represent the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service. Since the program began in 1995, more than 90,000 young volunteers nationwide have been honored at the local, state or national level. Many prominent public figures have assisted in saluting these honorees over the years, including President Jimmy Carter, Barbara Bush, Magic Johnson, John Glenn, Madeleine Albright, Rudy Giuliani, Whoopi Goldberg, Colin Powell, Peyton Manning, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and Laura Bush. The program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Ireland.
For information on all of this year's Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit spirit.prudential.com.
In existence since 1916, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the preeminent organization of and national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 countries around the world. NASSP's mission is to promote excellence in school leadership. The National Honor Society ®, National Junior Honor Society ®, National Elementary Honor Society™, and National Association of Student Councils ® are all NASSP programs. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, Va., visit www.principals.org or call 703-860-0200.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) is a financial services leader with operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. In the United States, the company's Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.
Editors: Graphics depicting the award program's logo and medallions may be downloaded from spirit.prudential.com.
Contacts:
Prudential
Harold Banks
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973-216-4833
(cell)
harold.banks@prudential.com
