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

MADISON, Wis. -- Andrew Napier, 17, of Mauston and Michelle Loke, 13, of Hartland today were named Wisconsin'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).

Andrew was nominated by Olston Middle School in Mauston, and Michelle was nominated by Swallow School in Hartland. 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.

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.

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-based 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 state and federal legislators. She also was interviewed by local newspaper and television reporters about her findings.

As a result, most of the lead-based toys 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."

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

Alexander Brower, 18, of Fort Atkinson, a senior at Jefferson High School in Jefferson, collected reusable school supplies that fellow students were going to discard at the end of the school year, and donated them to the Jefferson County Literacy Council and a school in Jamaica. With permission from school officials, Alexander created an advertising campaign to alert students to his project, made donation boxes, collected and sorted the donations, packed boxes, and then delivered the boxes to the Literacy Council and to a primary school in Jamaica.

Ashley Kilmer, 13, of Appleton, an eighth-grader at J.R. Gerritts Middle School in Kimberly, conducted a series of fund-raisers at her school that collected nearly $1,500 for Cystic Fibrosis patient care and research. Ashley recruited volunteer help, solicited product donations from local businesses, and designed an incentive competition to encourage students to take part in the effort.

Annemarie Krzysik, 18, of Appleton, a senior at Xavier High School, created a monthly activities program that gave young disabled children time to interact with high school mentors. With help from school officials, Annemarie wrote and presented a speech at her high school, recruited and trained teen volunteers, assembled a list of special-needs children, and then organized monthly activities that linked the teen volunteers with individual children.

Sarah Meehan, 18, of Fremont, a senior at Weyauwega-Fremont High School in Weyauwega, organized free CPR and AED training sessions for 60 students and staff members in her school district. Sarah applied for a grant to pay for training and supplies, made first-aid kits for all participants, recruited nurses from her school and a local hospital to lead the course, and then scheduled and coordinated the training sessions.

Tyler Sanchez, 18, of Racine, a senior at The Prairie School, raised $7,000 for the United Way of Racine County and the American Kidney Fund by recording and selling a CD of original piano compositions. Tyler composed and practiced the music, found a studio facility and CD manufacturer, recorded the music, solicited corporate sponsorship, arranged for retail locations to sell his CD, and promoted "Notes of Hope" throughout his community, selling all 1,000 copies.

Lindsey Walter, 17, of Sheboygan, a senior at Sheboygan South High School, collected new and gently used backpacks for Hmong refugee children and teens living in her community. With help from Catholic Charities officials, her mother and several friends, Lindsey solicited donations of funds and backpacks from local businesses, advertised her campaign in church bulletins and at a local YMCA, distributed donation barrels, and then collected, cleaned and handed out almost 100 backpacks to young refugees.

"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).

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