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

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

Honors also bestowed on other top youth volunteers in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Niharika Jain, 16, of Shreveport and Noel Netzhammer, 13, of Metairie today were named Louisiana'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).

Niharika was nominated by Caddo Parish Magnet High School in Shreveport, and Noel was nominated by Archbishop Chapelle High School in Metairie. 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.

Niharika, a junior at Caddo Magnet High School, founded a 25-member "youth board" for a local YWCA, to conduct volunteer projects benefiting underprivileged children who are staying at the Y's family violence shelter. Niharika first visited the YWCA several years ago while studying domestic violence for a social studies project, and was stunned by the living conditions for women and children at the shelter. Even more upsetting to Niharika was a brochure that told of a 3-year-old Shreveport child who had been beaten to death by her father. "I had no idea that domestic violence occurred in my own community," she said.

Niharika organized a drive to collect cleaning supplies for the shelter, but then realized that much more could be accomplished by a organizing dedicated group of young people. She proposed the idea of a youth board to YWCA and school officials, and distributed application forms to all of the public high schools in Caddo Parish. After 25 girls were selected for the board, Niharika began conducting monthly meetings and planning volunteer projects. Initially, the board members helped children with reading and homework in an after-school tutoring program, and after discovering that the kids did not have enough books to read, Niharika's group collected more than 1,000 books for them through book drives at four high schools. Niharika also organized a youth "summit" that gave more than 100 students from 11 high schools a chance to learn about leadership, politics and domestic violence.

Noel, an eighth-grader at Archbishop Chapelle High School, helped create an annual summer camp where children with disabilities interact with other kids. Noel became aware of the isolation experienced by many special-needs children because she had an autistic boy in her class. "I started thinking about how things could change for him," she said. "If the boys and girls in class really got to know him, they'd be less likely to make fun of him and more likely to be friends with him." Noel thought about forming a "friendship club," and, after discussing it with her mother, a special education teacher, the idea blossomed into a summer camp.

With funding from Jefferson Parish, the Green Park Friendship League Summer Camp has provided reading, writing, math, social and other activities over the past two years to two dozen kids with and without disabilities. Noel has served as a junior counselor, helping teachers prepare for each day, assisting with lessons and snacks, and ensuring that the special-needs campers make new friends and feel safe and accepted. She says this experience has not only taught her about autistic children and the benefits of inclusion, but also has reinforced her desire to become a brain surgeon. "Perhaps one day I can find a cure for this puzzling condition, as well as other childhood diseases," Noel said.

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

Lucy Boyd, 17, of New Orleans, a senior at Academy of the Sacred Heart, was only 7 years old when she started the Children's Leukemia League to raise money for leukemia research throughout the Gulf Coast region. Since then, she has organized a series of fund-raising events that have collected more than $50,000 for the cause.

Austin Granger, 15, of Deridder, a sophomore at Rosepine High School in Rosepine, launched an environmental awareness and recycling program to conserve the earth's resources and encourage others to protect the environment. Over the past five years, Austin has collected 1,025 pounds of newspapers, 43 cell phones, 10 gallons of soft drink tabs, and $500 worth of aluminum cans. He also has shared his environmental knowledge and passion with his community through demonstrations, workshops and illustrated talks.

Hope McFarland, 17, of Keithville, a member of The Extra Mile Region VII, Inc. in Shreveport and a junior at Caddo Parish Magnet High School, established "Reading Ambassadors," a motivational reading program for school-age children. Hope started her program at schools in six parishes in Louisiana, and has since expanded it to include schools in Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi, reaching more than 2,600 children with the message that reading is important.

Wenlong Wu, 18, of New Orleans, a senior at Benjamin Franklin High School, created an organization to solicit school supplies and educational funding for New Orleans students returning to the city following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. After contacting countless organizations for support, Wenlong raised thousands of dollars for schools and student scholarships in his city.

"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.

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