Alabama's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected In 16th Annual National Awards Program

MONTGOMERY, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Megan Smith, 16, of Hartselle and Emma O'Rear, 13, of Haleyville today were named Alabama's top two youth volunteers for 2011 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 16th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

“Each and every one of these honorees deserve our respect and admiration, and we hope by shining a light on them, they will continue to serve as an example for others.”

Megan was nominated by Hartselle High School in Hartselle, and Emma was nominated by Haleyville City Schools in Haleyville. 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 2011 at that time.

Megan, a junior at Hartselle High School, collects books for young children and reads to them during monthly visits to local preschools to encourage a love of reading. Megan started after hearing her mother, a kindergarten teacher, talk about one of her students who could not complete nightly reading assignments because his father insisted he practice baseball instead. “In my hometown, sports are a priority,” Megan explained. “In many cases, children are forced to spend their preschool years with a baseball or football in their hands rather than a book.” She later learned that the young baseball player also had no age-appropriate books to read at home, so she told her mother she wanted to give him some of her old books.

Upon hearing how happy the little boy was to receive her books, Megan decided she could do the same for other children in her town, and began soliciting book donations for local preschoolers. She encouraged her peers to contribute their old books, recruited her parents to collect books from coworkers, and created a Facebook page to publicize her effort, which she calls “Stories 4 Smiles.” She then started visiting preschools to distribute books to their pupils, read to them, and conduct fun activities related to the books she reads. “The smiles on the children’s faces made all my hard work worthwhile – the many hours of begging for books, sorting them into categories by gender and age, and calling to set up appointments,” said Megan. Her project gained additional momentum when Megan was invited to become a member of the Tennessee Valley Reading Council, a committee of local educators and advocates for childhood literacy, and when her project was highlighted at a national youth leadership conference. She hopes now to get local businesses involved by hosting book drives, and to eventually starting “Stories 4 Smiles” chapters across the country.

Emma, an eighth-grader at Haleyville High School, assisted with a class of disabled children last summer after her little sister, who had been part of the class, passed away at the age of 8. “My sister Payton definitely inspired me to do this by making me realize that her life was just as normal as others,” said Emma. After Payton died, Emma thought that volunteering with the special-education class could help her deal with her grief and at the same time pay tribute to her sister’s memory. “Knowing how much she loved that class and her classmates, I wanted to be involved,” she said.

For three days a week, Emma assisted the class teacher by singing with the children, conducting counting exercises, working on art projects, participating in nature walks, and helping at snack time. She discovered that her volunteer work not only helped the children improve academically and socially, but also made them happy and better able to cope with Payton’s death. “It was tough at times,” said Emma, but “the kids made me feel like I really brightened their day, and this experience helped me become a better person, which is what Payton would have wanted.” Emma says she wants to become a special-education teacher when she grows up, “to help other children like Payton be the best they can be.”

In addition, the program judges recognized four other Alabama students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion:

Anna Atchley, 17, of Sheffield, a senior at Muscle Shoals High School in Muscle Shoals, applied her 15 years of dance experience to create a free, weekly dance program for underprivileged children in her town. Anna, who teaches her students a combination of ballet, hip hop and jazz, also organized a dance recital featuring her students that will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Mi’a Callens, 17, of Vestavia, a junior at Oak Mountain High School in Birmingham, has raised nearly $11,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation through coin drives, bake sales and other fundraisers. Mi’a chose to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation after her younger cousin Jaylen received a wish during her long struggle with leukemia.

Shejuti Paul, 17, of Florence, a volunteer with the American Red Cross of Northwest Alabama and a senior at Florence High School, raised more than $2,000 in cash donations and $1,500 in medical supplies to support the victims of the Haiti Earthquake in January 2010. Shejuti, a long-time community volunteer, gathered a group of fellow students to help create an awareness campaign, a school fund-raising contest, and a fundraising outreach program.

Catherine Shipp, 17, of Mobile, a junior at W.P. Davidson Senior High School, worked with her church to create a youth basketball league and cheerleading squad for underprivileged children. Catherine, who first met the children through an activity in her youth league, applied her lifelong love of basketball to provide 50 children with an opportunity to learn skills, exercise, and be part of something special.

“These award recipients have proven that young people across America are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. “Each and every one of these honorees deserve our respect and admiration, and we hope by shining a light on them, they will continue to serve as an example for others.”

“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. More than 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 2 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 John Strangfeld of Prudential; Jana Frieler, 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 2010 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Shannon McNamara of Basking Ridge, N.J., and Benjamin Sater of Plano, Texas.

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 2,800 of its Local Honorees this year on behalf of President Barack 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 95,000 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 Jimmy Carter, Barbara Bush, Magic Johnson, John Glenn, Madeleine Albright, Rudy Giuliani, Whoopi Goldberg, Colin Powell, Peyton Manning, Laura Bush, and Condoleezza Rice. The program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland and India.

For information on all of this year’s Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit spirit.prudential.com or www.nassp.org/spirit.

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.nassp.org or call 703-860-0200.

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Editors: Graphics depicting the award program’s logo and medallions may be downloaded from spirit.prudential.com.