14th Annual Search Under Way for Iowa's Top Youth Volunteers

Business Wire, Sept 2, 2008

State Honorees Receive Cash Awards, Medallions and Trip to Washington, D.C., for National Events

Davenport and Waukee Youth Were Iowa's Honorees in 2008

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Over the past 13 years, Prudential Spirit of Community Awards have been given to more than 1,100 middle and high school students across Iowa for helping the less fortunate, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, and serving their communities through many other volunteer activities. This week the search begins to identify more young Iowans who have made meaningful contributions to their communities over the past 12 months, as the prestigious awards program kicks off its 14thyear.

These awards, presented nationwide by Prudential Financial, Inc. in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), honor outstanding community service by young people in grades 5 through 12.

"We've seen a tremendous number of amazing young people since we created this program in 1995," said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and chief executive officer of Prudential Financial. "We're delighted to be able to call attention to their selfless acts of volunteerism, and to give them the recognition they so richly deserve."

Young volunteers can apply online at www.prudential.com/spirit or at www.principals.org/prudential. Applications must be completed by October 31, 2008, then printed out, signed and submitted to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA, or affiliate of HandsOn Network. Those without Internet access can get a paper version of the application form by calling 877-525-8491 toll-free.

Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (50 hours for age 14 and younger, 100 hours for those older). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia -- one high school student and one middle level student -- as State Honorees on February 10, 2009. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent for four days of recognition events May 2-5, 2009. Runners-up at the state level will receive bronze medallions or Certificates of Excellence.

In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit, charitable organizations of their choice.

Sam Wagner, 18, of Davenport and Talia Leman, 13, of Waukee were Iowa's top youth volunteers for 2008. Sam, Iowa's top high school youth volunteer, was honored for organizing a daylong car wash that brought in more than $18,000 to help Habitat for Humanity build a house for a low-income family. Talia, Iowa's top middle level volunteer, was recognized for founding an organization called "RandomKid" that seeks to educate, motivate and unify young people around the world to work on a broad spectrum of pressing needs. Talia also was named one of the program's ten National Honorees for 2008.

"The rewards that an individual receives from serving his or her community aren't often tangible, but they are lasting," stated Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of NASSP. "We are pleased to once again join with Prudential in recognizing several of this nation's youth volunteers, offering the honorees both tangible and memorable tokens of appreciation for the work that they've done."

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represent the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on community service, and have honored more than 80,000 young volunteers at local, state and national levels since the program began in 1995. 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 Institute; 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, Taiwan and Ireland.

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], the National Elementary Honor Society[TM], and the National Association of Student Councils[TM]. For more information on NASSP, NHS, NJHS, NEHS or NASC, visit www.principals.org.