Wisconsin's Michelle Loke of Hartland Named One of America's Top Ten Youth Volunteers; State's Andrew Napier of Mauston Also Honored During Four-Day Celebration, with Tributes from Actor Ted Danson and Olympic Champion Joey Cheek.

WASHINGTON -- Michelle Loke, 13, of Hartland was named one of America's top ten youth volunteers for 2006 in a ceremony today at the International Trade Center, receiving a national Prudential Spirit of Community Award for her outstanding volunteer community service. Selected from a field of close to 20,000 applicants across the country, she received a personal award of $5,000, an engraved gold medallion, a crystal trophy for her school, and a $5,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation for a nonprofit charitable organization of her choice.

Also honored in Washington was Andrew Napier, 17, of Mauston. He and Michelle were named Wisconsin's top youth volunteers in February, and were recognized last night at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, along with the top two youth volunteers of every other state and the District of Columbia. At that event, all 102 Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees for 2006 were presented with $1,000 awards and congratulated by actor Ted Danson and Olympic speedskating champion Joey Cheek. The honorees also received engraved silver medallions and an all-expense-paid trip with their parents to Washington, D.C., for this week's recognition events.

Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created 11 years ago by Prudential Financial, Inc. to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models. Since then, the program has honored more than 70,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level.

"Michelle and Andrew exemplify the spirit of community that is so important to the future of our neighborhoods, our towns and our nation," said Arthur F. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential. "By honoring them, we hope not only to give them the recognition they so richly deserve, but also to inspire others to follow their example."

Michelle, an eighth-grader at Swallow School, conducted experiments to determine whether there was lead in children's toys and jewelry, and then launched a campaign to remove lead-tainted toys from stores and ban the use of lead in these items. When Michelle saw a television report about the possibility of lead in gumball machine toys, she grew concerned because her younger brother frequently bought these toys. "Because lead can build up in your body and harm you, I wanted to be sure that my younger brother wasn't getting lead poisoning," she said.

After researching the health effects of lead, Michelle asked a high school science teacher to help her develop a procedure to test for lead in the toys, and then purchased more than 100 gumball machine trinkets and pieces of inexpensive children's jewelry from 28 stores, keeping a log of her purchases. For several months, she worked with strong acids and chemicals in a high school science lab to test for lead. When many of the toys tested positive, Michelle wrote letters to retail stores, their corporate headquarters, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, newspapers, and 45 state and federal legislators. She also was interviewed by local newspaper and television reporters about her findings. As a result, most of the toys with lead were removed from local stores, and several legislators have promised to support legislation prohibiting the use of lead in children's toys. "Many children around the country got lead poisoning from toys and jewelry like those I tested," said Michelle. "Hopefully, no child in Waukesha County will ever get that sick."

Andrew, a junior at Mauston High School, built a Web site and produced a film to document the restoration of a 1,000-year-old Native American mound in his town, and to educate the public about the ancient Woodland mound-building culture of central Wisconsin. Andrew, a filmmaker, was invited to take part in the restoration project by a former president of the Ho-Chunk Nation after the panther-shaped "effigy mound" was discovered in Mauston. "I feel strongly about documenting projects that help educate people on topics that bring communities together," Andrew said. "I also felt the project was important because I wanted this community to understand why these mounds are sacred to Native Americans."

Andrew designed his Web site (www.pantherspiritmound.org) both to keep his community up to date on the progress of the restoration and to serve as a learning tool. He researched the subject of Native American mounds, wrote detailed descriptions for his Web pages, and posted photographs of key events in the restoration process. For his 45-minute documentary film, Andrew traveled to other Native American sites, interviewed historians and archaeologists, produced both aerial and ground footage of the restoration efforts, and recorded activities at a middle school that participated in the project. "A project like this can really bring all kinds of individuals together in a way that strengthens the community," said Andrew.

Applications for the 2006 awards program were submitted last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and Volunteer Centers affiliated with the Points of Light Foundation. The top middle level and high school applicants in each state and the District of Columbia were announced in February. These 102 State Honorees are in Washington this week with their parents for four days of special recognition events.

Ten of the 102 were named America's top ten youth volunteers for 2006 at the International Trade Center today. These National Honorees received additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions, crystal trophies for the schools or organizations that nominated them, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for charities of their choice.

In addition to Michelle, the National Honorees are:

Evan Alicuben, 17, of Hilo, Hawaii, who spearheaded a project that placed "personal emergency dialers" in the homes of nearly 50 senior citizens in his community, to enable them to call for help quickly and easily in case of emergency.

Ellie Ambrose, 12, of Nashville, Tenn., who organized an annual carnival and a five-kilometer running race called "Ellie's Run for Africa," which together have raised more than $40,000 over the past two years for sick and disadvantaged children in Africa.

Hillary Hughes, 11, of Bedford, N.H., who started a nonprofit foundation that has collected more than $11,000 worth of personal-care products and other items to distribute to needy kids in her community, poor families in Chile, tsunami victims in Asia, and hurricane victims on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Geneva Johnson, 17, of the Bronx, N.Y., the founder and executive director of a successful youth-run organization that seeks to build pride and self-esteem among young people in the inner-city through a wide variety of service projects.

Alexander Lin, 12, of Westerly, R.I., who led a student community service group in a multifaceted project to reduce the adverse environmental impact of discarded consumer electronics - or "e-waste" - through recycling, public education and legislation.

Ajay Mangal, 18, of Pascagoula, Miss., who lost nearly all of his possessions when Hurricane Katrina flooded his coastal city, yet devoted himself to distributing emergency supplies to other victims immediately after the storm, and helped many families clean out their homes in the following weeks and months.

Kevin Peyton, 18, of Sac City, Iowa, who rallied residents throughout his rural county to help him make colorful wooden "barn quilts" and mount them on historic barns and other buildings, in an effort to boost the local economy by attracting more tourists.

Nicholas Schwaderer, 17, of Superior, Mont., who built and now operates a low-power FM radio station at his school that has become an important source of news and entertainment for a small, mountainous community in western Montana.

Savannah Walters, 13, of Odessa, Fla., who is waging an extensive, multi-state campaign called "Pump 'em Up" to conserve energy resources and reduce pollution by urging drivers to keep their tires property inflated and thereby burn less gasoline.

The National Honorees were chosen by a national selection committee that was co-chaired by U.S. Senators Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, and by Arthur Ryan of Prudential. Also serving on the committee were 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.

NASSP President David Vodila said, "The young people honored this year with the Prudential Spirit of Community Award exemplify the best America offers to the world. Their actions bring unity and purpose to their communities and across our great nation. Through their leadership, service and compassion, these young people bring us all closer together."

In addition to the organizations above, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards are supported by the American Association of School Administrators, the National Middle School Association, the National School Boards Association, the Council of the Great City Schools, the National School Public Relations Association and many other national youth and service organizations.

More information about The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and this year's honorees can be found at www.prudential.com/spirit or www.principals.org/prudential.

NASSP - celebrating 90 years of excellence in school leadership - is the preeminent organization and the national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals and aspiring school leaders. NASSP 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 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.

(Editors: full-color pictures of the Spirit of Community Awards program logo and medallions are available at www.prudential.com/spirit.)

(Television producers: customized b-roll footage of the Wisconsin honorees receiving their awards will be transmitted via satellite on Monday, May 8, from 4:20 to 4:30 p.m. EDT on C-Band, AMC 3, Transponder 19, Downlink 4080 Mhz H, Audio 6.2/6.8. For more information, call Faith Armonaitis or Lauren Cardinale at 800-325-8677.)