Wisconsin’s Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 12th Annual National Awards Program
Kelsey Swiatko, 17, of Kenosha and Stella Mayerhoff, 13, of Whitefish Bay today were named Wisconsin’s top two youth volunteers for 2007 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 12th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).
Kelsey was nominated by Bradford High School in Kenosha, and Stella was nominated by Whitefish Bay Middle School in Whitefish Bay. 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 — one middle level and one high school youth — 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 2007 at that time.
Kelsey, a senior at Bradford High School, has collected donations of more 5,000 pairs of new underwear and socks over the past two years for shelters in her community. Kelsey founded “Operation Underwear” after reading a news article about how donations for Hurricane Katrina victims were affecting local service agencies. “As a nation we are very generous in times of need,” she said. “However, when the donations go to the disaster areas, the hometown donations do not get made, leaving hometown shelters in a deficit.” Upon learning that socks and underwear were badly needed by shelters but rarely donated, Kelsey began planning an awareness and collection campaign to fill that need.
With help from her school guidance counselor, parents and teachers, Kelsey chose a day to host a “donation event” and publicized it through word-of-mouth, an e-mail campaign, and stories in the news media. She visited local businesses and service groups to solicit support, and recruited classmates to help. On the day of her event, Kelsey set up donation sites at a local department store decorated with banners and posters, and gave donors homemade cookies in the shape of ‘undies’ to thank them. Her first event in 2005 brought in more than 2,000 pairs of underwear and socks, and a second one last November added another 3,000. “To be able to obtain clean undergarments and socks may seem insignificant to some, but it is huge to someone without,” said Kelsey. “Helping someone less fortunate than you is the best feeling you can have.”
Stella, an eighth-grader at Whitefish Bay Middle School, raised more than $3,000 to fight cancer by creating and selling “Just Believe” wristbands, and by leading a team in a “Relay for Life” walkathon. She also donated her hair to make wigs for children undergoing chemotherapy treatments. “My friend Maggie, who has cancer now, and my friend Dina, who died of cancer, inspired me to learn more and get involved,” Stella said.
With help from a friend, Stella designed and ordered 1,000 light-blue “Just Believe” wristbands and sold them at bake sales, band performances, and other events at her school to raise money for Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer. “It was quite a challenge, but we did it,” Stella said. She then raised funds for the American Cancer Society by recruiting friends to form a “Relay for Life” team and secure pledges for their participation. When she donated her hair to “Locks of Love,” a charitable organization that supplies real-hair wigs to children who have lost their own hair because of cancer treatments, Stella was able to see before and after pictures of the recipients. “You could see how happy it made them to have real hair,” she said.
In addition, the program judges recognized six other Wisconsin students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion:
Benjamin Beduhn, 18, of Ripon, a senior at Ripon High School, spent a month in the Panamanian rain forest helping the people who live there in a variety of capacities. Benjamin helped repair a clean-water pipeline serving more than 1,000 Panamanians, worked to restore a washed-out section of the Panamanian Highway, aided mechanics as they built tractor transmissions for farmers, and tutored young children in English.
Riley Hietpas, 13, of Little Chute, a seventh-grader at St. John Nepomucene Catholic School, organized a carnival to raise funds to purchase teddy bears for children staying at Harbor House, a domestic abuse shelter. Riley obtained a location for his carnival, recruited volunteer help, created a publicity campaign, solicited donations from local businesses. He also coordinated the games, food and prizes at the event.
Rodney Hillskotter, 18, of Weyauwega, a senior at Weyauwega-Fremont High School, helped repair, refurbish and maintain a nature preserve area behind his school. Rodney helped place signs along trails, install a split-rail fence, stabilize the topsoil, and raise money to teach sixth-graders about water quality.
Amanda Meyer, 17, of Madison, a senior at Madison East High School, has conducted monthlong food drives over the past three summers for Second Harvest. Amanda distributes informational flyers throughout the community, solicits donations from local businesses, and sets up collection barrels. So far, she has collected enough food and donations to provide nearly 26,000 meals for people in need.
Justin Reto, 18, of Ashland, a senior at Ashland High School, created a community garden five years ago that has given hundreds of local residents a place to raise their own vegetables, and provided hundreds of pounds of fresh produce for a local food pantry. Justin started by securing a location, obtaining a grant for supplies, and placing advertisements. Since then, his “Green Thumb Community Garden” has grown each year, with more than 200 people involved last year.
Courtney Van Rossum, 17, of Greenleaf, a senior at Denmark High School in Denmark, founded a teen outreach program at her school to provide fellow students with alternatives to drinking and drug use. After circulating a student petition and obtaining permission from school officials, Courtney recruited a faculty advisor and volunteer help, raised money to cover expenses, and organized a series of safe and fun weekend activities for students.
“People as caring and committed as these young students are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our cities and our nation,” said Arthur Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential. “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.”
“NASSP is pleased to once again join Prudential in recognizing these young people for their amazing accomplishments,” remarked Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “This year’s honorees are proof that the youth of today are conscientious and capable of performing selfless acts of kindness in their local communities, on a national scale and at the global level.”
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 Volunteer Centers, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November. More than 7,500 Local Honorees were then reviewed by state-level judges, who 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 7 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 U.S. Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota; Arthur Ryan of Prudential; actor Richard Dreyfuss; Alma Powell, chair of America’s Promise — The Alliance for Youth; Robert Goodwin, president and CEO of the Points of Light Foundation; Amy B. Cohen, director of Learn and Serve America at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA; Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council; Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; Kathryn Forbes, national chair of volunteers, American Red Cross; Joe Militello, president of NASSP; and two 2006 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Ajay Mangal of Pascagoula, Miss., and Geneva Johnson of the Bronx, N.Y.
In addition to granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program will be distributing President’s Volunteer Service Awards to more than 4,150 of its Local Honorees this year on behalf of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. 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. The program is part of a broad youth-service initiative by Prudential that includes a youth leadership training program administered by the Points of Light Foundation; a free booklet of volunteer ideas for young people offered through the Federal Citizen Information Center; and a Web site featuring profiles of outstanding youth volunteers, volunteer tips and project ideas for students, an electronic newspaper on youth volunteerism, and more (www.prudential.com/spirit). The Spirit of Community Awards program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and is being introduced this year in Ireland.
For information on all of this year’s Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit www.prudential.com/spirit or www.principals.org/prudential.
The National Association of Secondary School Principals — the preeminent organization and the national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals and aspiring school leaders — provides its members with the professional resources to serve as visionary leaders. NASSP promotes the intellectual growth, academic achievement, character development, leadership development, and physical well-being of youth through its programs and student leadership services. NASSP sponsors the National Honor Society™, the National Junior Honor Society™ and the National Association of Student Councils™. For more information on NASSP, NHS, NJHS or NASC, visit www.principals.org.
Prudential Financial companies serve individual and institutional customers worldwide and include The Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance companies in the U.S. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement-related services and administration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocation services. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.