Katie Stagliano, 15, of Summerville and Isabella Hixenbaugh, 14, of
Myrtle Beach today were named South Carolina'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.
Katie was nominated by Pinewood Preparatory School in Summerville, and
Isabella was nominated by Forestbrook Middle School in Myrtle Beach. 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).
Katie, a freshman at Pinewood Preparatory School, established a
nonprofit organization that has helped kids across the country create
and maintain more than 60 vegetable gardens, which have yielded
thousands of pounds of fresh produce to feed people in need. Katie’s
gardening career began in the third grade when she brought home from
school a cabbage seedling that she’d been given to plant. “I tended to
my cabbage and cared for it until it grew to an amazing 40 pounds,” said
Katie. She then took her cabbage to a local soup kitchen, where it
helped feed 275 hungry people. “I began to wonder: if one cabbage could
feed 275 people, imagine how many people a whole garden could feed,” she
said.
She planted a garden in her backyard, then asked her school’s
administration if she could start a student-run garden there. Her school
gave her a plot of land the length of a football field, and classmates
pitched in to help. Realizing she needed to learn more about gardening,
Katie contacted the master gardener at Clemson University, who took her
under her wing. Before long the garden was supplying fresh produce to
the soup kitchen and a local homeless shelter, which soon planted its
own garden with Katie’s help. Five years later, “Katie’s Krops” is a
nonprofit organization that has raised almost $200,000 through a website
and individual and corporate donations to provide grants for
9-to-16-year-olds who want to grow vegetables to feed the hungry in
their communities. Thanks to her efforts, 61 youth-run gardens are
growing from Maine to Hawaii. As for Katie’s first garden, it is still
flourishing, producing over 3,000 pounds of produce last year for people
in need. And when the local soup kitchen closed down three years ago,
Katie began offering garden-to-table dinners that have provided a free,
nutritious meal to more than 2,000 hungry people. “I am proud to grow
healthy food, prevent hunger and empower kids to grow a healthy end to
hunger in their communities,” said Katie.
Isabella, an eighth-grader at Forestbrook Middle School, volunteers for
a foundation that promotes the emotional healing of traumatized,
neglected and abused children by teaching them to ride and take care of
horses. Isabella has been helping out at the Fidelis Foundation of
Myrtle Beach since it opened in 2010. The organization hosts groups of
children at its ranch every Sunday, and Isabella helps show them how to
ride, groom, feed and “tack up” the horses there.
She and fellow volunteers also conduct arts and crafts projects with the
kids while they’re waiting their turn to ride, and serve snacks. The
children “are always very excited when they get their turn to come to
the barn and ride,” said Isabella, who also participates in events such
as horse shows that raise money for the foundation. “I have learned that
not all people have the perfect family with two parents or even any at
all,” Isabella said. “The most memorable part to me is seeing almost all
of the kids every time walk away with a smile on their face, ready to
come back next time.”
As State Honorees, Katie and Isabella 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 four other South Carolina students as
Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service
activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion.
These are South Carolina's Distinguished Finalists for 2014:
Patrick Gorospe, 18, of Rock Hill, S.C., a senior at South
Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics, started
“Student2Student,” a one-on-one tutoring program that pairs 13 trained
teen volunteers from his school with 13 fourth- and fifth- graders
through the Hartsville Boys & Girls Club. Patrick, who earned his Eagle
Scout Award for this project, has been visiting the club with his
volunteer tutors twice each week, for an hour and half each session
since the program began in March 2013.
Joseph Kovas, 18, of Chester, S.C., a senior at Chester Senior
High School, raised $6,600 to fund the clean-up and restoration of a
veteran’s cemetery and the installation of a granite stone monument
honoring all branches of the military. Joseph, who earned his Eagle
Scout Award for this project, secured donations and grants, worked with
the local Veterans’ Affairs office and cemetery commission, and
coordinated the design of the monument with a local stone cutter.
Nina Srivastava, 17, of Spartanburg, S.C., a senior at
Spartanburg Day School, raised $69,000 over the past two years by
coordinating an annual 5K and one-mile fun run through her school’s
ASTRA Club, a girls’ community service organization. Nina organizes all
aspects of the event, including recruiting and supervising 60 volunteers
and securing sponsorships, and has donated the funds to Big Brothers Big
Sisters and the SAFE Homes Rape Crisis Coalition.
Nicholas Wheeler, 15, of Hilton Head, S.C., a sophomore at Hilton
Head Island High School, founded “Kids Helping Kids Help the
Environment” two years ago, and has since organized more than 550
volunteers to help with nine beach clean-ups and collect 8,000 pounds of
trash. Nicholas, who has been volunteering with the Coastal Discovery
Museum since he was 8 years old, wanted to provide an outlet for young
kids to make a difference while learning how to help the environment.
“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