{"id":52693,"date":"2017-05-08T14:06:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T18:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/english-americas-top-10-youth-volunteers-of-2017-named-at-22nd-annual-prudential-spirit-of-community-awards\/"},"modified":"2017-05-08T15:25:27","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T19:25:27","slug":"nombran-a-los-10-mejores-voluntarios-juveniles-de-los-estados-unidos-de-2017-en-la-22a-edicion-anual-de-los-premios-prudential-al-espiritu-comunitario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/nombran-a-los-10-mejores-voluntarios-juveniles-de-los-estados-unidos-de-2017-en-la-22a-edicion-anual-de-los-premios-prudential-al-espiritu-comunitario\/","title":{"rendered":"America&#8217;s top 10 youth volunteers of 2017 named at 22nd annual Prudential Spirit of Community Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\"><![CDATA[\n\/* Style Definitions *\/\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">WASHINGTON<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">May 8, 2017<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212;\u00a0For community service initiatives that range from supporting veterans to providing school supplies to kids in need, 10 students were named America&#8217;s top youth volunteers of 2017 today by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a national program sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).<\/p>\n<p>Photo &#8211; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/509127\/Prudential_Insurance_Phelps.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/509127\/Prudential_Insurance_Phelps.jpg<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>These National Honorees, named during the program&#8217;s 22nd annual national award ceremony at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, range in age from 11 to 18. They were selected first from a field of more than 31,000 middle level and high school youth volunteers nationwide, and then from 102 State Honorees, based on their initiative, effort, impact, and the personal growth demonstrated in the course of their volunteer service. The National Honorees each received <span class=\"xn-money\">$5,000<\/span> personal awards, engraved gold medallions, crystal trophies for their schools, and <span class=\"xn-money\">$5,000<\/span> grants from The Prudential Foundation for charities of their choice.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s ceremony was part of a four-day celebration that brought each state&#8217;s top two youth volunteers of 2017 to <span class=\"xn-location\">Washington, D.C.<\/span>, for sightseeing and special recognition events. These State Honorees \u2013 one middle level and one high school student from each state and the <span class=\"xn-location\">District of Columbia<\/span> \u2013 were personally congratulated by Olympic gold medalist <span class=\"xn-person\">Michael Phelps<\/span> last night at a gala dinner reception at the Smithsonian&#8217;s National Museum of Natural History. Each State Honoree received a <span class=\"xn-money\">$1,000<\/span> award.<\/p>\n<p>These are the 10 National Honorees named today:<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Amal Bhatnagar<\/span>, 18, of <span class=\"xn-location\">Duluth, Ga.<\/span>,<\/b> a senior at Northview High School, created a student organization that has provided more than a thousand first-aid kits to people in the U.S. and overseas who lack access to basic healthcare. <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Riley Callen<\/span>, 14, of <span class=\"xn-location\">Pawlet, Vt<\/span>., <\/b>an eighth-grader at Dorset Elementary School, founded an annual &#8220;hike-a-thon&#8221; in the hills of <span class=\"xn-location\">Vermont<\/span> that has raised more than <span class=\"xn-money\">$250,000<\/span> to help find a cure for brain tumors, like the ones that have affected her since she was 8 years old. <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Ariana DeMattei<\/span>, 16, of <span class=\"xn-location\">Center Moriches, N.Y.<\/span>,<\/b> a junior at Westhampton Beach High School, has raised over <span class=\"xn-money\">$100,000<\/span> to provide more than 1,000 new backpacks filled with school supplies for local elementary students through an organization she founded in 2012 called &#8220;Backpacks for Fellow Students.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Sarah (Katie) Eder<\/span>, 17, of <span class=\"xn-location\">Shorewood, Wis.<\/span>,<\/b> a junior at Shorewood High School, developed a creative writing workshop for children in need that is now being taught by 120 teens in seven states and five other countries. <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Bradley Ferguson<\/span>, 16, of <span class=\"xn-location\">Northfield, N.J.<\/span>,<\/b> a sophomore at Mainland Regional High School, started a service-learning club that over the past three years has supported veterans and people in need by refurbishing an American Legion post, collecting food for a community food bank, making lunches for homeless people, and growing fresh produce at several community gardens. <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Harmonie Frederick<\/span>, 11, of <span class=\"xn-location\">Columbia, S.C.<\/span>,<\/b> a fifth-grader at Polo Road Elementary School, sold lemonade to raise money and awareness to fight cancer, conducted a coat drive to keep those less fortunate warm in the winter, and volunteers at a local nursing home. <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Lorelei McIntyre-Brewer<\/span>, 11, of <span class=\"xn-location\">Duncannon, Pa.<\/span>,<\/b> a sixth-grader at The Cove School, built a volunteer network that has provided more than 12,000 special pillows for children around the world undergoing heart surgery. <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Kelsey Norris<\/span>, 13, of <span class=\"xn-location\">Bonaire, Ga.<\/span>, <\/b>a sixth-grader at Bonaire Middle School, overcame a challenging start in life to provide more than 1,000 volunteer hours and raise more than <span class=\"xn-money\">$20,000<\/span> for a wide variety of causes aiding children and others in difficult situations. <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Kenan Pala<\/span>, 13, of <span class=\"xn-location\">San Diego, Calif.<\/span>,<\/b> a seventh-grader at Francis Parker Middle School, launched an initiative to benefit homeless people by raising money for local shelters, coordinating meals each quarter at shelter kitchens, and organizing a record-setting cereal donation event. <\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Meghana Reddy<\/span>, 18, of <span class=\"xn-location\">La Mesa, Calif.<\/span>, <\/b>a senior at Francis Parker School in <span class=\"xn-location\">San Diego<\/span>, uses 3D printing technology to produce artificial hands for children and adults in several countries who cannot afford commercial prostheses. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These honorees have done exemplary work to contribute to the health and vitality of their communities, and we look forward to seeing the great things they achieve in the future,&#8221; said <span class=\"xn-person\">John Strangfeld<\/span>, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. &#8220;Congratulations to each of these extraordinary young volunteers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a privilege to celebrate these students not only for outstanding volunteer service, but for the example they&#8217;ve set for their peers,&#8221; said <span class=\"xn-person\">Jayne Ellspermann<\/span>, president of NASSP. &#8220;These honorees prove that one person truly can make a difference.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The distinguished selection committee that chose the National Honorees was chaired by Strangfeld and included Ellspermann of NASSP; <span class=\"xn-person\">Andrea Bastiani Archibald<\/span>, chief girl expert for Girl Scouts of the <span class=\"xn-location\">USA<\/span>; <span class=\"xn-person\">Kristofer Bolz<\/span> with the national headquarters volunteer services team at the American Red Cross; <span class=\"xn-person\">Tracy Hoover<\/span>, president of Points of Light; <span class=\"xn-person\">Peggy McLeod<\/span>, deputy vice president of education and workforce development at the National Council of La Raza; <span class=\"xn-person\">Frederick J. Riley<\/span>, national director of urban and youth development at YMCA of the <span class=\"xn-location\">USA<\/span>; <span class=\"xn-person\">Linda Shiller<\/span>, at-large member on the National PTA Board of Directors; <span class=\"xn-person\">Rhonda Taylor<\/span>, acting deputy director of strategic communications and director of partnerships and program engagement for the Corporation for National and Community Service; <span class=\"xn-person\">Dru Tomlin<\/span>, director of middle level services for the Association for Middle Level Education; and two 2016 National Honorees: <span class=\"xn-person\">Connor Archer<\/span>, a freshman at Husson University in <span class=\"xn-location\">Bangor, Maine<\/span>, and <span class=\"xn-person\">Alisha Zhao<\/span>, a senior at Lincoln High School in <span class=\"xn-location\">Portland<\/span>, Ore.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards was created in 1995 to identify and recognize young people for outstanding volunteer service \u2013 and, in so doing, inspire others to volunteer, too. In the past 22 years, the program has honored more than 120,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level. <\/p>\n<p>For more information about The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and this year&#8217;s honorees, visit <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/spirit.prudential.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/spirit.prudential.com<\/a> or <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nassp.org\/spirit\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.nassp.org\/spirit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>About NASSP<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across <span class=\"xn-location\">the United States<\/span>. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in <span class=\"xn-location\">Reston, VA<\/span>, visit <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nassp.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.nassp.org<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>About Prudential<\/b> <b>Financial<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Prudential Financial, Inc. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.investor.prudential.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">(NYSE: PRU),<\/a> a financial services leader, has operations in <span class=\"xn-location\">the United States<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-location\">Asia<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-location\">Europe<\/span>, and <span class=\"xn-location\">Latin America<\/span>. Prudential&#8217;s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential&#8217;s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.news.prudential.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.news.prudential.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>Editors: For pictures of the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program logo and medallions, visit <\/b><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/spirit.prudential.com\/resources\/media\" rel=\"nofollow\"><b>https:\/\/spirit.prudential.com\/resources\/media<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>For digital photos or B-roll of the National Honorees at the 2017 national recognition events, contact Prudential&#8217;s <span class=\"xn-person\">Harold Banks<\/span> at (973) 216-4833 or <\/b><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"mailto:harold.banks@prudential.com\" rel=\"nofollow\"><b>harold.banks@prudential.com<\/b><\/a><b>.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"prni_dvprnejpgb77aleft\" style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDTH: 100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"prnejpgb77aleft\" title=\"The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards logo\" border=\"0\" alt=\"The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards logo\" align=\"middle\" src=\"http:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/403687\/Prudential_Spirit_of_Community_Awards.jpg\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Logo &#8211; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/403687\/Prudential_Spirit_of_Community_Awards.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/403687\/Prudential_Spirit_of_Community_Awards.jpg<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p\/>\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">WASHINGTON<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">May 8, 2017<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212;\u00a0For community service initiatives that range from supporting veterans to providing school supplies to kids in need, 10 students were named America&#8217;s top youth volunteers of 2017 today by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a national program sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).<\/p>\n<p>Photo &#8211; &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot;&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interes-humano"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}