Colorado's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 12th Annual National Awards Program.

Elizabeth and Aurora students earn $1,000 awards, engraved medallions and trip to nation's capital

Honors also bestowed on other top youth volunteers in Colorado

DENVER -- Amber Rose, 17, of Elizabeth and Morgan McDonald, 14, of Aurora today were named Colorado's top two youth volunteers for 2007 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 12th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Amber was nominated by Elizabeth High School in Elizabeth, and Morgan was nominated by Prairie Middle School in Aurora. 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 - 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. Ten of them will be named America's top youth volunteers for 2007 at that time.

Amber, a senior at Elizabeth High School, founded a nonprofit organization that has distributed more than $30,000 worth of art supplies to children around the world who are disadvantaged, hospitalized, or victims of natural disasters. When Amber was 7, she spent several days in the critical care unit of The Children's Hospital of Denver, and remembers how much it meant to her when a visitor brought her crayons and paper. "I was able to draw pictures and escape from the scariness of surgery, needles, tubes and machines," she said.

Inspired to provide that same kind of benefit to other children, Amber began four years ago contacting companies for donations, buying art supplies, packaging them into kits for individual children, and then handing them out while volunteering at The Children's Hospital. She soon realized that she wanted to help kids beyond her local area, too, so she enlisted the aid of churches, schools, businesses and humanitarian organizations to distribute her art kits across the country and overseas. In the U.S., Amber's organization, called "Art Angels," has provided art supplies to kids in hospitals, Boys and Girls Clubs, migrant farm families, a woman's shelter, and areas hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. Supplies also have been shipped to needy kids in faraway countries such as Ghana, Armenia, Nicaragua and Malaysia. "If I can accomplish my goal of improving lives, then the world will be a better place and the future will be brighter," said Amber.

Morgan, an eighth-grader at Prairie Middle School, helps lead a select group in her school that works to build leadership skills and improve scholastic achievement among African-American students. When her principal selected Morgan to be part of an African-American student leadership group, Morgan was eager to participate. She met with other group members every week to brainstorm ways to improve their education, challenge students to succeed in school, and change the way that people look at students of color. At Morgan's suggestion, the group made posters highlighting the "achievement gap" among Black, White and Asian students to emphasize the importance of reading, writing, math and science.

Morgan also suggested that the group hold a bake sale on "Back-to-School Night," which helped fund a successful community conference organized by the group. The daylong "Building Leadership in African American Community for Kids Conference," featuring several notable African-American leaders, inspired parents, teachers and students to work together, according to Morgan. "As a result of this experience, I have grown to be serious about school and how well I have to do," Morgan said. "I will remember this for the rest of my life."

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

Jennifer Koch, 15, of Keystone, a sophomore at Summit High School in Frisco, is working actively to make the world a safer place for people who, like herself, have food allergies. She worked every week for a year in a local church's kitchen, helping to make it a peanut-free facility; wrote editorials and participated in interviews to educate the public about food allergies; lobbied Congress for food-allergy legislation; and served as a member of a teen advisory board for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network.

Kalin Noel, 17, of Holyoke, a senior at Holyoke Junior/Senior High School, led a student group at his school in organizing a telethon that raised more than $20,000 to build a new community hospital. Kalin solicited donations and help from local businesses and community members, arranged for entertainment, recruited and scheduled volunteers, created an advertising campaign, and oversaw every aspect of the successful event.

Sarah Shank, 18, of Durango, a senior at Durango High School, started a nonprofit organization that has distributed more than $20,000 over the past three years to help the families of 11 young cancer patients pay for expenses incurred in traveling to treatment centers. Sarah, a cancer survivor, holds fund-raisers, works with local physicians to locate children needing assistance, seeks publicity to make others aware of the needs of childhood cancer patients, and provides emotional support to them and their families.

Stacey Squatrito, 18, of Colorado Springs, a senior at Pine Creek High School, organized a teen volunteer group that gives free facials and makeovers to elderly women living in a local nursing home. After receiving the approval of school administrators, Stacey founded the first Colorado chapter of "Glamour Gals," recruited and trained high school volunteers, found a nursing home to serve, and has scheduled makeovers for more than 50 elderly women, while fostering lasting friendships between the teens and senior citizens.

"People as caring and committed as these young students are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our cities and our nation," said Arthur Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential. "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."

"NASSP is pleased to once again join Prudential in recognizing these young people for their amazing accomplishments," remarked Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. "This year's honorees are proof that the youth of today are conscientious and capable of performing selfless acts of kindness in their local communities, on a national scale and at the global level."

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, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November. More than 7,500 Local Honorees were then reviewed by state-level judges, who 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 7 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 U.S. Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota; Arthur Ryan of Prudential; actor Richard Dreyfuss; Alma Powell, chair of America's Promise - The Alliance for Youth; Robert Goodwin, president and CEO of the Points of Light Foundation; Amy B. Cohen, director of Learn and Serve America at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA; Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council; Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; Kathryn Forbes, national chair of volunteers, American Red Cross; Joe Militello, president of NASSP; and two 2006 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Ajay Mangal of Pascagoula, Miss., and Geneva Johnson of the Bronx, N.Y.

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 4,150 of its Local Honorees this year on behalf of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. 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. The program is part of a broad youth-service initiative by Prudential that includes a youth leadership training program administered by the Points of Light Foundation; a free booklet of volunteer ideas for young people offered through the Federal Citizen Information Center; and a Web site featuring profiles of outstanding youth volunteers, volunteer tips and project ideas for students, an electronic newspaper on youth volunteerism, and more (www.prudential.com/spirit). The Spirit of Community Awards program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and is being introduced this year in Ireland.

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

The National Association of Secondary School Principals -- the preeminent organization and the national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals and aspiring school leaders -- provides its members with the professional resources to serve as visionary leaders. NASSP promotes the intellectual growth, academic achievement, character development, leadership development, and physical well-being of youth through its programs and student leadership services. NASSP sponsors the National Honor Society[TM], the National Junior Honor Society[TM] and the National Association of Student Councils[TM]. For more information on NASSP, NHS, NJHS or NASC, visit www.principals.org.

Prudential Financial companies serve individual and institutional customers worldwide and include The Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance companies in the U.S. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement-related services and administration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocation services. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.