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

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

Honors also bestowed on other top youth volunteers in Vermont

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Maya Robinson, 18, of Bethel and Audrey Pekarik, 12, of Underhill today were named Vermont'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).

Maya was nominated by Whitcomb Junior-Senior High School in Bethel, and Audrey was nominated by Browns River Middle School in Jericho. 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.

Maya, a senior at Whitcomb Junior-Senior High School, created an exhibit of photographs taken by 20 international exchange students over the past 35 years, to promote greater understanding of foreign cultures and the interconnectedness of people around the world. Maya, a skilled photographer, began planning her exhibit two years ago before spending a year in India as a Rotary International Exchange Student. "I thought that coordinating with other exchange students to get photographs from all over the world would make a powerful visual connection between our community at home and our international host families and friends," she said.

During her year in India, Maya took more than 6,000 photos and asked other exchange students online to share photos that captured what it was like to live in a different culture. While there, she also raised money to pay for heart surgeries for more than 100 Indian children and conducted a drive to collect winter clothing for 35 children in a local orphanage. When she returned to Vermont, Maya pored through thousands of photographs taken in 18 countries to select images for her exhibit, then reproduced, sized and framed them. During its monthlong showing at a local gallery, the exhibit, entitled "Seeing Eye to Eye," helped "everyone who saw it feel like they were part of a global community," said Maya. It was so successful that it was scheduled to travel to three Rotary International Conferences. Maya is selling copies and postcards of her photographs during her shows and donating the proceeds to support clean water projects. "The change I want to see is a world united across cultural boundaries through clear communication," she said.

Audrey, a seventh-grader at Browns River Middle School, raised $3,000 to build a house for a needy family in Haiti by making and selling hand-made bracelets. Audrey sprang into action after hearing a guest speaker at her church talk about living conditions in poor countries and an organization that builds houses in some of these countries for $2,000. "I felt that with a safe house to live in, people could be healthier and feel better," said Audrey. "So I decided to build a house."

Audrey began to raise money be selling eggs from her chickens, but unfortunately, they were killed by a fox. She then came up with the idea of selling bracelets, but first had to learn how to make, price and sell them. Audrey received help with these tasks from the owner of a bead store in town, and then her family helped her string the bracelets and sell them at craft fairs. She also created a display about her cause to encourage sales. "Sometimes I got tired of making bracelets, but I had to keep on making them," she said. In the end, Audrey raised much more than was needed for one house. "The thing I will always remember for the rest of my life is sending off the check," she said. "I know that I have given a home to a family who didn't have one."

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

Alexandra Larrow, 17, of Vergennes, a senior at Vergennes Union High School, recruited volunteers in her community to knit more than 400 hats for cancer patients. Alexandra, who does not knit, promoted her project through a local yarn shop, her local chapter of the National Honor Society, and her reign as Miss Vermont National Teenager. When completed, the hats were delivered to clinics, doctors' offices and hospitals for distribution to cancer patients.

Leah Ziegler, 18, of Stowe, a senior at Stowe High School, co-founded a nonprofit organization that has raised $16,000 over the past four years for communities suffering from economic hardship, social injustice, or natural disasters. Leah and her younger sisters sent the proceeds from book and bake sales, car washes and other fund-raising activities to orphanages in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Chile. They also made donations to the Red Cross for relief efforts following the 2004 Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

"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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