Utah's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 11th Annual National Awards Program; South Jordan and Orem Students Earn $1,000 Awards, Engraved Medallions and Trip to Nation's Capital; Honors Also Bestowed on Other Top Youth Volunteers in Utah.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Bradley Jencks, 15, of South Jordan and Lauren Hillman, 13, of Orem today were named Utah's top two youth volunteers for 2006 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 11th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Bradley was nominated by South Jordan Middle School in South Jordan, and Lauren was nominated by Lakeridge Junior High School in Orem. 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 2006 at that time.

Bradley, a ninth-grader at South Jordan Middle School, honored and preserved the memory of those buried in an old cemetery by cleaning and restoring headstones, collecting information about more than 1,400 individual graves, and making the information available to the public through books and Web sites. When Bradley accompanied his parents to the Bingham City Cemetery to gather information about nine ancestors buried there, he saw gravestones that were broken, vandalized or faded beyond recognition, as well as gravesites with no information at all. "It made me feel bad that these people have been forgotten about," he said. He also saw the headstones of young men from many countries who had come to Utah long ago to work in copper mines, but were too poor to be sent home for burial. He realized that most of their living descendants would not be able to get information about them, and thought he could help.

After receiving permission to work on the eight-acre cemetery, Bradley asked local companies to donate new headstones and the supplies needed to clean up the graveyard, then recruited friends, family members and scout groups to pick up garbage, trim weeds, clean old headstones and install new ones. They spent 15 days gathering information from headstones, photographing unreadable stones, and mapping each grave using GPS technology. Bradley also placed flyers on gravesites asking for information, and spent Memorial Day weekend at the cemetery interviewing visitors. In all, more than 250 volunteers helped Bradley collect and compile all of the information, and his father created a computer database to organize it. The data was then printed in six 1,500-page books, and provided to Utah State Historical Society and a free Internet genealogy Web site. "Because of this project, we were able to save and preserve cemetery records that would otherwise have been lost forever!," said Bradley.

Lauren, an eighth-grader at Lakeridge Junior High School, started a community service club at her school that has conducted a wide range of projects to benefit the elderly, hurricane victims, Mexican orphans, African refugees and others. Lauren comes from a family that has always emphasized volunteering, so when she asked friends one day to help her collect clothing for an orphanage in Mexico, she was surprised that they showed little interest. "That is when I realized that I needed my friends to get the vision of service," she said. "I wanted them to experience the joy that I had felt by doing service. I knew that if they did, they would become committed to helping others."

With help from her mother, Lauren crafted a mission statement for a school club, obtained permission from her principal, and asked businesses to become sponsors. Then she made flyers to recruit members and spread the word through friends and teachers. Although only three students showed up for the first few meetings, membership grew as the new club began working on projects. Since the clothing drive for the Mexican orphanage, Lauren and her fellow club members have purchased flowers for elderly women on Mother's Day, sponsored a special day at school to raise awareness about the Darfur crisis in Sudan, collected school supplies for victims of Hurricane Katrina, delivered painted pumpkins to a nursing home, and participated in other service activities. Lauren is already talking about starting another volunteer club once she gets to high school. "Service will always be a part of my life," she said.

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

Shannon Babb, 17, of Highland, a member of the Utah County 4-H in Provo and a senior at American Fork High School in American Fork, monitors the water quality of local rivers and educates the public about pollution and the need to protect water resources. As a field volunteer for the Utah Stream Team, Shannon performed tests and recorded pollution levels and other quality indicators of rivers flowing into and out of Utah Lake. She also created an outreach education program, coordinated a water-protection coloring contest for schoolchildren, and produced a water quality commercial for her school's TV system.

Victoria Morales, 18, of Sandy, a senior at Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City, helped develop an interdisciplinary teaching curriculum that was used to teach students in her school about life and social injustice in Sudan. After obtaining permission from school officials, Victoria recruited other volunteers to help her conduct extensive research on Sudan and compile a 60-page resource packet that enabled teachers to educate students about malnutrition, genocide, war, intercultural relations and other issues in the African nation.

Brooke Robison, 18, of Layton, a member of the United Way of Davis County and a senior at Layton High School, solicited donations of funds and gifts to provide Christmas presents for disadvantaged teenagers. With help from officials of the "Toys for Tots" program, Brooke organized and performed in theater programs where the price of admission was a new, unwrapped gift for a teen; set up collection boxes in schools and retail stores; solicited corporate donations; and worked with counselors to collect more gifts during an annual Christmas dinner.

Rebecca Robison, 14, of Layton, a ninth-grader at Fairfield Junior High School in Kaysville, organizes free science camps for elementary-school girls in her community. Rebecca obtains funds and supplies for the camps by applying for grants and soliciting local businesses, plans camp activities, recruits other teen volunteers to help, and directs the operation of each camp session.

"The recipients of these awards vividly demonstrate that young people across America are making remarkable contributions to the health and vitality of their communities," said Art Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. "They truly deserve all of the praise and encouragement we can give them."

"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 them as 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 Volunteer Centers, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November. Nearly 8,000 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 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 8 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.

U.S. Senators Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia will serve as co-chairs of the national selection committee. Also serving on the committee will be 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; Ken Gladish, National Executive Director of YMCA of the USA; David Vodila, President of NASSP; and two 2005 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Devin Cohen of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and Lindsey Williams of St. Joseph, Mo.

In addition to granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program will be distributing President's Volunteer Service Awards to nearly 4,200 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 program is supported by National 4-H Council, Girl Scouts of the USA, American Red Cross, YMCA of the USA, Points of Light Foundation, American Association of School Administrators, National Middle School Association, National School Boards Association, Council of the Great City Schools, National School Public Relations Association, and many other national youth and service organizations.

The awards are part of a broad initiative created by Prudential to encourage young people to become involved in community service. Other elements of the initiative include a community leadership training program for high school students, now administered by the Points of Light Foundation; and a variety of educational materials for young people and teachers relating to youth volunteerism.

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.

NASSP - the preeminent organization and the national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals and aspiring school leaders - provides its members 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 administers the National Honor Society(TM), National Junior Honor Society(TM), and National Association of Student Councils(TM).

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 United States. 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.