| [February 09, 2010] |
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Iowa's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 15th Annual National Awards Program
DES MOINES, Iowa --(Business Wire)--
Malea Schulte, 18, of Norway and Brandon Pettit, 11, of Prole today were named Iowa'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).
Malea was nominated by Benton Community High School in Van Horne, and Brandon was nominated by Indianola Middle School in Indianola. 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.
Malea, a senior at Benton Community High School, painted a large mural to decorate a new baseball museum in her community, designed a logo for the museum, helped landscape the area around it, and worked on beautifying the interior. After viewing "The Final Season," a movie about Norway's winning baseball teams, Malea began to fully appreciate her town's rich tradition of championship baseball, and quickly signed on to assist a budding effort to build a museum. "In Norway, Iowa, baseball is like our all-encompassing religion," she said.
After a former bank building was donated to house the museum, Malea began painting a 6-by-12-foot mural for the exterior, depicting a Norway baseball player jumping for a fly ball. When it was finished, Malea worked on the landscaping around the building, helping to remove cement slabs, install a drainage system, and lay down river rock. She also helped other volunteers assemble displays and beautify the museum's interior. Framed photos of her mural will be sold in the museum gift shop to finance the purchase of baseball gloves for disadvantaged children in the area. "I think every young person deserves this opportunity, especially children growing up in the baseball capital of Iowa," Malea said. "The baseball museum has changed the attitude of the entire town. It rekindled the pride that was always there, just hidden."
Brandon, a sixth-grader at Indianola Middle School, developed and implemented a plan to collect plastic bottles and aluminum cans at the 2009 Warren County Iowa Fair so that they could be recycled. Brandon earlier had started a recycling plan for his family, and reduced his home's trash output by 75 percent. When he noticed trash cans full of plastic bottles and pop cans at public events, he decided he needed to do something about this. "A simple solution is to provide recycling bins for people to put their empty beverage bottles and cans in at public events," he said.
Brandon presented his idea to the Warren County Iowa Fair Board and obtained its approval to collect recyclables during the 2009 fair last July. With his father's help, Brandon purchased 10 recycling containers to place around the fairgrounds, and then recruited fellow 4-H members to monitor and empty the bins every day. Afterwards, he and his family sorted, bagged, and delivered the used cans and bottles to redemption and recycling centers. "I am happy that I am no longer personally contributing to our national waste problem but am a part of the solution," Brandon said. "Kids should step forward and encourage adults to make the changes necessary to protect our environment and future generations."
In addition, the program judges recognized four other Iowa students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion:
Sarah Cronk, 16, of Bettendorf, a junior at Pleasant Valley High School, helped form and coaches a high school cheerleading squad for students with disabilities. She also created a nonprofit corporation that provides mentoring and online tools to help other high schools across the country start similar squads.
Shelby Meyer, 17, of Alta, a member of the Buena Vista County 4-H in Storm Lake and a senior at Alta High School, volunteers for a wide variety of school, 4-H, and community projects. She has maintained her county fairground's flowerbed for the past nine years, taught fourth-graders about 4-H and livestock, helped with the county farm safety program, and given homemade gifts to VFW members. She also has raised funds to support the D.A.R.E. program, gathered donations for the local food bank, and mentored special-needs children at her school, among many other activities.
Emma Skahill, 13, of Earlham, a seventh-grader at Van Meter Community School in Van Meter, organized a fund-raising walk and awareness campaign in her community to help build a Habitat for Humanity house for a homeless family in Mississippi. Emma planned, organized, and advertised her project; solicited the support of school officials, youth volunteers, and community members; and managed the successful event, which raised $600.
Aaron Swailes, 18, of Columbus Junction, a senior at Highland High School in Riverside, is serving as state president of a youth-led program promoting tobacco prevention and control. Aaron travels throughout Iowa promoting the program, participating in activities, and teaching about the negative effects of tobacco use. He also serves as a non-voting member of the State Commission for the Iowa Department of Public Health.
"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.
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