“Fantastic Girl Power” stories and a chance to win $5,000. November 5th deadline
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards is a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 19th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).
Entry forms and instructions are available online at the end of August. This year, there were approximately 29,000 participants. 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, are eligible to select a student.
Nearly 4,500 Local Honorees are reviewed by state-level judges and then selected as State Honorees (102 State Honorees, two from each state) and Distinguished Finalists based on criteria such as personal initiative, creativity, effort, impact and personal growth. State Honorees are announced each February.
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 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.
Finally, 10 of them — five middle level and five high school students – are named National Honorees by a prestigious national selection committee in May. These honorees receive additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions, crystal trophies, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit, charitable organizations of their choice.
Here are this year’s Top 10 — some are real “girl power” stories!
Allyson Ahlstrom, 17, of Santa Rosa, Calif., a senior at Cardinal Newman High School, who created a full-service clothing boutique that has allowed 250 girls in need to each pick out two brand-new outfits for free over the past three years.
Erica LeMere, 14 of Shreveport, La. an eighth-grader at Caddo Parish Middle Magnet School, who founded “Erica’s Wish,” a nonprofit foundation that has donated more than $5,000 worth of clothing, books and other items to young patients at a local psychiatric facility.
Emma Astrike-Davis, 16, of Durham, N.C., a junior at Cary Academy, who founded a program five years ago that has recruited hundreds of students in several schools to create more than 1,000 pieces of art for terminally ill patients in hospice centers, nursing homes and VA hospitals.
Virginia Newsome, 17, of Lexington, Ky., a senior at Lafayette High School, who created a nonprofit organization in 2011 that has donated $50,000 worth of visual and performing arts supplies to schools that cannot afford them.
Cassie Wang, 17, of Lenexa, Kan., a senior at Olathe Northwest High School, who leveraged her golf skills to raise money for the rebuilding of homes and businesses in Joplin, Mo. after the devastating tornado that struck that city in 2011, and then chaired three blood drives in her community and launched a student-run nonprofit to benefit disaster victims both in Joplin and in China.
Zachary Certner, 17, of Morristown, N.J., a junior at Morristown High School, who co-founded a nonprofit organization that conducts free sports clinics for children with special needs, along with sensitivity training to help other students understand the challenges they face.
Michael-Logan Jordan, 14, of Kailua, Hawaii, an eighth-grader at Kailua Intermediate School, who has donated all of his birthday gifts for the past eight years to children in need; collected Christmas cards, clothing and other items for wounded soldiers; and raised more than $10,000 for the National Arthritis Foundation.
Louie McGee, 12, of St. Paul, Minn., a sixth-grader at Highland Catholic School, who leads a team that has raised more than $40,000 over the past six years by participating in an annual fundraising walk to fight diseases that cause blindness, like the one that afflicts him.
Teagan Stedman, 13, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., a seventh-grader at Harvard-Westlake School, who organized a series of music events and other activities that raised more than $70,000 for pediatric cancer research.
Joshua Williams, 12, of Miami Beach, Fla., a seventh-grader at Ransom Everglades School, who created a foundation that has distributed more than 475,000 pounds of food to families in need throughout South Florida.
For information on submitting entries and information about all of this year’s Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit www.prudential.com/spirit.
Editorial Director | Writer | Tweet me @heatherriccio
