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

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

Honors also bestowed on other top youth volunteers in Michigan

LANSING, Mich. -- Alexandra McGregor, 17, of Waterford and Lyndsi Tallman, 13, of Woodhaven today were named Michigan'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).

Alexandra was nominated by Kettering High School in Waterford, and Lyndsi was nominated by Brownstown Middle School in Brownstown. 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.

Alexandra, a junior at Kettering High School, waged a successful campaign to persuade local, state and federal officials to declare a special day of recognition honoring American soldiers serving around the world. Alexandra's idea was sparked when she saw a news report about soldiers killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. "Something about the report struck me," she said. "I decided that I had to do something to prove to the men and women fighting for us that we cared about them. They do so much for our country and on the news we rarely hear any good about what they are doing."

After receiving encouragement from a county commissioner, Alexandra began contacting officials at all levels of government, urging them to declare March 26, 2006, as "Support Our Troops Day." March 26 was the birthday of Alexander's late grandfather, who fought in World War II. She sent letters to "almost every single political figure in Michigan," to her state's Congressional delegation, and even to President Bush. She also wrote to schools around the country and members of the media, made phone calls, conducted media interviews, and encouraged everyone she knew to spread the word. As a result, her township, county, state and the Congress all passed resolutions designating March 26 as an official day of recognition for active-duty U.S. troops. In addition, many people across the country observed five minutes of silence at 6:00 p.m. on that day.

Lyndsi, an eighth-grader who now attends Patrick Henry Middle School, initiated a school paper-recycling program that provided funds to purchase a heart defibrillator for a local elementary school. Her project was conducted while attending Brownstown Middle School last year. "I have always had an interest in volunteering and making a difference in my school and community," Lyndsi said. "When I heard my brother's school was recycling paper, I immediately wanted to do the same at my middle school."

After creating a plan, Lyndsi found a teacher sponsor and made a presentation to her school's principal and faculty members to obtain approval. She then recruited other students to help set up paper collection boxes, made flyers and regular announcements to promote her program, and spoke to each class about the importance of recycling. Every Friday, Lyndsi and other volunteers collected and bundled the recyclable paper from 54 classrooms, and Lyndsi's parents helped transport it all to a recycling container. The money raised from the recycling was allocated to help buy a defibrillator for Wegienka Elementary School. "I would encourage other young people to follow their ideas, because you will never know how much of a difference it could make if you don't try," she said.

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

Adam Clements, 17, of Midland, a senior at H.H. Dow High School, organized a free summer camp for 15 disadvantaged children in his county who could not otherwise afford a camp experience. To create his camp, Adam solicited donations of funding and supplies, recruited and trained 24 volunteers, found a location, worked with community groups to identify campers. He also served as the "camp director" during the four days the camp was in session.

David Dumais, 17, of Trenton, a senior at Trenton High School, led volunteer efforts to renovate a room at a Ronald McDonald House in Detroit. With the approval of school and Ronald McDonald House officials, David recruited a student council volunteer team, organized fund-raisers, and purchased supplies. His group then cleaned, painted and redecorated the room.

Patricia Eichholtz, 17, of Northville, a senior at Ladywood High School in Livonia, collected more than 3,300 new and gently used books to fill the shelves of a new library at a juvenile detention facility in Hersey, Michigan. Her great-grandfather provided the funds to build the library at Eagle Village, but died before the project was finished. Patricia wrote letters and newsletter articles to appeal for donations, placed collection barrels at local churches and schools, and solicited donations from friends and local Girl Scouts. She then collected, inventoried, catalogued and delivered the books.

Jacqueline Kenyon, 17, of Stevensville, a senior at Michigan Lutheran High School in St. Joseph, organized a jogging event that raised more than $17,000 for a young cancer victim and his family. Jacqueline wrote letters and made posters to promote her "Jog for Jay," recruited more than 25 volunteers, solicited donations of food and water for the participants, and persuaded Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to donate matching funds for part of the proceeds.

Ashley Krebs, 17, of Marine City, a senior at Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School, created a foundation called the "Youth Volunteer Initiative" that promotes youth volunteerism and community involvement. Ashley recruits teen volunteers, leads meetings, works with leaders of community events who need assistance, and organizes fund-raisers and other activities to help others.

Laura Merz, 17, of Ann Arbor, a senior at Dexter High School in Dexter, raises awareness and collects donations for "Invisible Children," an organization dedicated to helping children in Uganda. Laura organized an "Invisible Children" campaign and movie presentation at her school, recruited volunteers, and raised more than $800 by selling African hats and shirts.

Patrick Webster, 18, of Sterling Heights, a senior at Henry Ford II High School, helped beautify his school by landscaping its main entrance and enhancing a memorial garden. Patrick raised money for materials, researched soil preparation and plant selection, recruited volunteers, and scheduled long hours of labor to landscape the school's front entrance and replant its memorial garden.

Jane Yang, 16, of Ypsilanti, a senior at Lincoln High School, organized and now leads a statewide Key Club project to raise funds, provide on-site volunteers, and raise public awareness for the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Home for Children. After promoting the project to Key Clubs throughout Michigan, Jane put together a network of 4,500 teen volunteers to support the home through a variety of service activities.

"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.