Media Advisory

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

Mount Sterling and Louisville students earn $1,000 awards, engraved medallions and trip to nation’s capital

(Frankfort, KY) Glenn Means III, 17, of Mount Sterling and Rebecca Schwager, 13, of Louisville today were named Kentucky’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).

Glenn was nominated by Montgomery County High School in Mount Sterling, and Rebecca was nominated by St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School in Louisville. 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.

Glenn, a senior at Montgomery County High School, founded a program that pairs young volunteers with nursing-home patients for weekly visits. As a volunteer at a nursing home for the past four years, Glenn was well aware that many patients received few visitors. “Residents at that nursing home needed a friend and someone to talk to,” he said. The idea for a youth-senior friendship club hit him one day, along with a name: HOPS, for “Helping Older People Smile.” The very next day, Glenn set out to make it happen.

Since he felt that pairing seniors with young people who share similar interests would be best, Glenn worked with the nursing home staff to prepare a list of residents and their interests. Next, he surveyed the many middle and high school students willing to participate, and created matches for more than 120 residents. Glenn held a meeting to explain his program’s guidelines and requirements to the young participants, and the program took off. HOPS has generated a great deal of enthusiasm both among the student volunteers and the nursing-home residents, and many community members have contacted Glenn to offer their help. “You wouldn’t believe how many residents were excited that they had a new friend,” he said. “People don’t understand that some of these residents don’t have any family at all, and just one visit can impact their lives.”

Rebecca, an eighth-grader at St. Francis of Assisi School, helped raise $10,000 for victims of violence in Darfur, Sudan, as co-chair of her school’s Committee on Conscience. She also volunteers as a tutor and mentor for immigrant and refugee children at Arcadia Community Center. Once she learned of the horrors occurring in Darfur, Rebecca felt compelled to volunteer. “My teacher made me think how great it would be to help people,” she said. To raise money for the victims of Darfur, Rebecca and other committee members wrote letters and sought donations from organizations, businesses and individuals. More than $10,000 was raised to support Doctors Without Borders and its medical mission to Darfur. Also, Rebecca’s group raised $1,000 to benefit local groups in need. In addition, Rebecca has worked with 30 children from around the world at the Arcadia Community Center, tutoring and befriending them and helping them adapt to American life. “Volunteering is so important to me because it was taking a big step from childhood to becoming a young adult,” said Rebecca.

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

• Papa Chakravarthy, 16, of Lexington, Ky., a junior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, developed a program to help middle school students from low-income families grasp difficult math and science concepts. Papa worked with school officials to identify students in need, and then recruited talented mentors to work with the students, hoping to encourage the children to stay in school and achieve academic success.
• Cynthia Lu, 17, of Lexington, Ky., a junior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, created a Chinese folk dance program to teach young people of varying ages the art of Chinese dance, and then arranged performances for her newly trained dance troupe. Cynthia practiced every Saturday afternoon with 20 students, sharing her passion for Chinese dance not just with them, but with the thousands of people who have watched the troupe perform.
• Jon Preneta II, 18, of Nicholasville, Ky., a senior at East Jessamine High School, organized a safety fair at an elementary school in a low-income area. Jon recruited 41 volunteers to help him plan and conduct the fair, which was attended by more than 100 young students and their parents. 
• Chelsea Reeves, 18, of Louisville, Ky., a senior at Assumption High School, developed a literacy program for elementary students attending a YMCA summer camp. She organized a book drive that yielded more than 1,700 books for her program, created a book exchange library at the camp, and led hands-on activities that related to books and reading.

“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 U.S., 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 students and five high school students—will be named National Honorees on May 7 by a prestigious national selection committee. Each of these honorees will receive an additional $5,000 award, a gold medallion, a crystal trophy, and a $5,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation for the nonprofit, charitable organization 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™, the National Junior Honor Society™, and the National Association of Student Councils™. 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.

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