Sarah Caldwell, 16, of Falmouth and Brianna Jack, 10, of Baileyville
today were named Maine's top two youth volunteers of 2014 by The
Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring
young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. Sarah was nominated
by Falmouth High School in Falmouth, and Brianna was nominated by
Woodland Elementary School in Baileyville. The Prudential Spirit of
Community Awards, now in its 19th year, is conducted by Prudential
Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary
School Principals (NASSP).
Sarah, a junior at Falmouth High School, persuaded more than 200 people
to take part in the New England Walk to Defeat ALS last fall after her
father was diagnosed with the fatal disease, raising $23,000 to help
find a cure. Rather than just sit and watch ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s
disease, overtake her father, “I set out to do everything I could to try
to spread awareness of ALS and raise money to fund research for a cure,”
said Sarah.
She started by assembling a team to participate in the ALS Association’s
annual fundraising walk in Portland. With help from her younger sister,
Sarah reached out to friends, relatives and others through social media,
gave interviews to a newspaper and two TV stations, hung posters all
over town, and got her whole high school involved in promoting the walk.
With more than 200 members, Sarah’s “Team Red Trekkers” ended up being
the largest and most successful fundraising team at the ALS walk. The
bracelets that Sarah designed for her team members proved so popular
that she is now selling them to raise additional funds. And she is
working with the ALS Association to increase awareness of Lou Gehrig’s
disease. Sarah’s father died just one month after the walk, but he
continues to inspire her to, as he often advised, “just keep trekking.”
Brianna, a fifth-grader at Woodland Elementary School, reads to children
on a regular basis at area libraries, and formed her own nonprofit
organization to facilitate the collection and donation of more than
1,000 books to kids in Maine. “Reading is very important to me, and I
want other children to know just how important and fun reading is,” said
Brianna. She began to share her love of reading with other children when
she was 7 by inaugurating a “story time” at her local library every
Tuesday during the school year. During the hour-long sessions, Brianna
reads a couple of stories, organizes a craft project, and gives
attendees a snack. Sometimes she brings in a guest speaker, too. With a
$2,000 grant she recently received, Brianna bought books for the library
and craft supplies for her story times, and started fixing up the room
where she reads to the children.
In October 2012, Brianna founded a nonprofit called “Maine Books for
Maine Kids” with the goal of donating books to children throughout the
state, with an emphasis on books by Maine authors. So far, with help
from her mother and little sister, she has donated over 1,000 books to
kids at schools, public events, a social service agency and a hospital.
Brianna also conducts special book readings at various schools during
Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, and runs a bullying awareness
poster contest for kids in her town.
As State Honorees, Sarah and Brianna 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 four days of national
recognition events. During the trip, 10 students will be named America’s
top youth volunteers of 2014.
Distinguished Finalists
The program judges also recognized two other Maine students as
Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service
activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion.
These are Maine's Distinguished Finalists for 2014:
Zoe Gillies, 18, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, a senior at Cape
Elizabeth High School, founded “Cape Closet,” through which she
collected and donated 125 prom dresses for local teens who could not
afford to purchase their own. Zoe, who earned a grant to expand her
dress project to include body image workshops and mentoring programs,
encouraged local schools to sponsor dress drives, worked with local
sponsors who donated prom flowers, and coordinated with social workers
to identify dress recipients.
Felix Thibodeau, 17, of Hermon, Maine, a junior at Nokomis
Regional High School, raised more than $15,000 to support homeless
veterans through the Togus VA Hospital in Augusta. Felix, an aspiring
soldier and current member of the Junior ROTC program at his school,
worked with local businesses to set up donation tables to raise funds to
buy clothing, food and hygiene items for homeless veterans.
“We applaud each of these young people for their exemplary volunteer
service,” said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. “They use
their time and talents to make a meaningful difference in their
communities, and we hope their example inspires others to do the same.”
“By going above and beyond in their volunteer service, these students
have brought positive change to communities across the country,” said
JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. “Congratulations to each
and every one of them on this well-deserved honor.”
About The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represents the United States’
largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service. 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 HandsOn Network affiliates, were eligible to select
a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award.
These Local Honorees were then reviewed by an independent judging panel,
which selected State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists based on
criteria including personal initiative, effort, impact and personal
growth.
While in Washington, D.C., the 102 State Honorees – one middle level and
one high school student from each state and the District of Columbia –
will tour the capital’s landmarks, meet top youth volunteers from other
parts of the world, attend a gala awards ceremony at the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of Natural History, and visit their congressional
representatives on Capitol Hill. On May 5, 10 of the State Honorees –
five middle level and five high school students – will be named
America’s top youth volunteers of 2014. These National 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.
Since the program began in 1995, more than 100,000 young volunteers have
been honored at the local, state and national level. The program also is
conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan,
Ireland, India and China. In addition to granting its own awards, The
Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program also distributes
President’s Volunteer Service Awards to qualifying Local Honorees on
behalf of President Barack Obama.
For information on all of this year’s Prudential Spirit of Community
State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit http://spirit.prudential.com
or www.nassp.org/spirit.
About NASSP
The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the
leading organization of and national voice for middle level and high
school principals, assistant principals, and all school leaders from
across the United States and more than 36 countries around the world.
The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy,
research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of
all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens
school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high
quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing
commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National
Honor Society, National
Junior Honor Society, National
Elementary Honor Society, and National
Association of Student Councils. For more information about
NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org.
About Prudential Financial
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has
operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
Prudential’s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping
individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth
through a variety of products and services, including life insurance,
annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment
management. In the U.S., Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for
strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century.
For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.
Editors: For full-color pictures of the Spirit of Community Awards
program logo and medallions, click here: http://bit.ly/Xi4oFW
Copyright Business Wire 2014