Indiana's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 17th Annual National Awards Program

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Krystal Shirrell, 18, of Brownsburg and Faith Killian-Fassnacht, 14, of Lafayette today were named Indiana's top two youth volunteers for 2012 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. Krystal was nominated by Brownsburg High School in Brownsburg, and Faith was nominated by Wea Ridge Middle School in Lafayette. The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, now in its 17th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

“It’s important to highlight them as powerful examples of how young people can make a difference.”

Krystal, a senior at Brownsburg High School, has engaged in a variety of activities to assist and support U.S. veterans and soldiers. While attending a workshop organized by her sister to make hats for cancer patients, Krystal heard someone talking about how patients undergoing kidney dialysis treatment often struggle to control their body temperature. Shortly afterward Krystal was at a Veterans Day banquet when she learned that many veterans need dialysis, and an idea took shape: she could make lap blankets to help kidney-damaged veterans stay warm during treatment.

Krystal spent up to eight hours making each blanket. She also taught middle school students and senior citizens at a local nursing home how to make the blankets. So far, she has delivered more than 250 of them to the local VA hospital. On one visit, she learned about the VA’s domiciliary program for homeless vets, and immediately wanted to do something for these veterans as well. She conducted a collection drive that provided more than 5,000 needed items for vets in the program, and she hosts monthly bingo nights for them, too. In addition, Krystal designed a “thank-you” coloring sheet for elementary school students to send to veterans, and launched a campaign to send decorated Christmas trees and care packages with special gift items to troops over the holidays. Krystal says she wants to “let veterans know the younger generation has not forgotten them and is reaching out with thanks and support.”

Faith, an eighth-grader at Wea Ridge Middle School, organizes writing workshops to help children express their bottled-up feelings, and then arranges gallery shows to display their creative writing. Faith knows firsthand what it’s like to have feelings locked up inside. She was abandoned as a young child, and by the time she was adopted when she was almost 5, she spoke little. Her adoptive mother heard about a program at Purdue University that used writing therapy to unlock what are often painful feelings, and for the next three years, Faith worked with a therapist to learn how to express herself through writing by keeping a journal of her feelings. “It works!” she said. “My thought was that if this works for me, it has to work for other youths,” Faith said.

Currently, as the founder of “Writings on the Wall,” Faith sets up writing workshops for other young people. She schedules and finds venues for the workshops and invites authors from all over Indiana to come and inspire the workshop participants to put their feelings down on paper. At the end of each workshop, Faith hosts a “gallery show” to “show off” the writing to the public. She also is on hand to offer encouragement and advice to aspiring writers as they struggle to express themselves. Over the past two years, Faith has worked with hundreds of kids from scout troops, churches, Boys and Girls Clubs and the court system. “Who would have thought a pen and paper could do so much for our youth?” said Faith.

As State Honorees, Krystal and Faith 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 2012 at that time.

Distinguished Finalists

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

Madison Doyle, 16, of Chalmers, Ind., a sophomore at Frontier Junior/Senior High School, raised more than $4,000 to support the Royal Family Kids’ Camp for foster children. To raise the money, Madison organized and implemented a 5K run/walk with 175 walkers, for which she solicited sponsors, designed T-shirts, found and reserved the event location, and managed volunteers for the event.

Deirdre Elfers, 18, of Sunman, Ind., a senior at East Central High School in St. Leon, helped raise $21,000 to support a mission trip from her church to Uganda. Deirdre, who was one of 10 parishioners to attend the mission trip, provided support to the impoverished village by working at a school, a clinic and an orphanage there.

Alyssa Jackson, 18, of Selma, Ind., a senior at Wapahani High School, founded her school’s “Raideraide Mentorship” program, which pairs student mentors with incoming freshmen. Alyssa designed the program, recruited and selected the mentors, communicated with freshmen, managed the orientation, and designed T-shirts with the program logo.

Evan Meade, 18, of Franklin, Ind., a senior at Franklin Community High School, has raised $15,000 to support Riley Children’s Hospital Foundation, the hospital where Evan received treatment for acute myeloid leukemia in 2010. Since his treatment, Evan has spearheaded blood and bone marrow registration drives; he also mentors other children with cancer and serves as a spokesman for the American Cancer Society.

Nathaniel Stone, 18, of Winona Lake, Ind., a senior at Warsaw Community High School in Warsaw, raised $24,000 with a 5K walk/run called “Race for Trace,” held in memory of his close friend Tracey, who lost her battle with breast cancer. Nathaniel planned the entire event, coordinated a team of nearly 100 volunteers, recruited the 850 race participants and donated the proceeds to the Kosciusko County Cancer Care Fund.

Colton Strawser, 17, of Wolcottville, Ind., a junior at Lakeland High School in La Grange, is currently the executive director of the nonprofit organization “PC’s for Youth,” which provides free computers to students. Colton, who has been volunteering with the organization since 2008, has expanded the program to provide free computers to five counties in Northeast Indiana.

“Through their selfless acts of service, these award recipients have greatly improved the lives of others,” said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. “We hope their stories and their dedication inspire other young people to do the same.”

"We are so pleased to celebrate these student volunteers,” said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. “It’s important to highlight them as powerful examples of how young people can make a difference."

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 affiliates of HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award. More than 5,000 Local Honorees were then reviewed by an independent judging panel, which selected State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists based on criteria including personal initiative, creativity, 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, 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 7. 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.

Since the program began in 1995, more than 100,000 young volunteers nationwide have been honored by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards at the local, state or national level. The program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland and India. 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 spirit.prudential.com or www.nassp.org/spirit.

About NASSP

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 45 countries around the world. The association provides research-based professional development and resources, networking and advocacy to build the capacity of middle level and high school leaders to continually improve student performance. Reflecting its longstanding commitment to student leadership development as well, 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, investment management, and real estate services. 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 http://www.news.prudential.com/.

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