WASHINGTON, April 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Paloma
Rambana, 12, of Tallahassee, Fla.,
was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2018 today by
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards during the program's 23rd
annual national award ceremony at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium.
Selected from a field of more than 29,000 youth volunteers from
across the country, Paloma has earned the title of National
Honoree, along with 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 this week in Washington,
D.C., was Alexandria
Brady-Mine, 18, of Gainesville. Paloma and Alexandria were named
Florida's top youth volunteers in
February, and were officially recognized last night at the
Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History along with the top
two youth volunteers in each other state and the District of Columbia. At that event, each of
the 102 State Honorees for 2018 received $1,000 awards as well as personal congratulations
from Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn. The honorees each also received
engraved silver medallions and all-expense-paid trips with a parent
to Washington, D.C., for this
week's recognition events.
Paloma, a seventh-grader at Maclay School, lobbied legislators,
led rallies, gave speeches, created a website and generated media
publicity to help secure $1.25
million in state funding for visually impaired children
between the ages of 6 and 13. Paloma, who has a congenital eye
condition that gives her fuzzy vision, uses a video magnifier to
help her read and see around her classroom. But when her magnifier
broke, she wasn't able to get another one because visually impaired
kids in her age group don't get state aid for training and
equipment outside of school, she said. "It's important that kids
like me have the tools they need to be successful in school."
Paloma met with dozens of state legislators, her governor and
congressmen to explain the situation, organized two rallies in
Tallahassee and made T-shirts for
the attendees, and spoke to many groups about the issue. She also
wrote an op-ed piece for her local newspaper, set up a website, and
recorded a radio public service announcement. Her "Fund the Gap"
campaign began to pay off when Florida's governor signed off on $1.25 million in funding, with almost half of
that continuing each year. "Sometimes I get upset because I can't
see as well as other kids," said Paloma, "but then I think about
how so many other kids can't see as well as I do, and I want to
help them."
Alexandria, a senior at F.W. Buchholz
High School, founded nonprofit organizations to educate
people around the world about human rights issues and to provide
assistance to senior citizens in her community. She also is an
executive director of an international nonprofit dedicated to
promoting acceptance, defying stereotypes and defeating hate. Her
two grandmothers were the inspiration for her volunteer work, said
Alexandria. One was a single mother who fought to educate her
children after fleeing Haiti; the
other was an educator who developed Alzheimer's disease.
When her maternal grandmother began to forget her family, "it
became important for me to carry on her legacy of helping others,"
said Alexandria. "I decided the best way to honor her would be
through helping the elderly." She began performing simple tasks for
a small group of seniors, such as cooking, washing dishes and
taking care of pets. Later, she introduced various technologies to
help them feel less isolated and communicate more easily with
family and friends. Alexandria's second nonprofit, "The Human
Projects," is addressing and raising awareness of human rights
issues through initiatives including two mentorship programs and a
virtual reality curriculum for high school and college students. As
executive director of another organization, "Redefy," Alexandria
manages an international team of more than 100 student volunteers
and arranges grant funding to promote social justice and positive
perspectives through school workshops and online media.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards is a national youth
recognition program sponsored by Prudential Financial in
partnership with the National Association of Secondary School
Principals (NASSP).
"These honorees exemplify something we've known for a long time
– that young volunteers have the power to bring meaningful change
to their communities," said John
Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc.
"These students have shown leadership and determination well beyond
their years, and it's a privilege to celebrate their service."
"Through their acts of service, these honorees drive home a
powerful lesson for their peers: that one student really can make a
difference," said Daniel P. Kelley, president of NASSP. "We
are honored to shine a spotlight on the compassion, drive and
ingenuity of each of these young volunteers."
In addition to Paloma, these are the other 2018 National
Honorees:
Tabitha Bell, 18, of
Sandy, Utah, a senior at
Waterford School, has raised more than $115,000 through her nonprofit, "Pawsitive
Pawsibilities," to provide nine service dogs to people who
otherwise could not afford one.
Rosie Colucci, 13, of
Palatine, Ill., an
eighth-grader at Plum Grove Junior High School, has collected more
than 60,000 toys, books, stuffed animals, games and other donations
for hospitalized kids, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars
to help fund research for a cure for childhood cancer.
Grayson Phillips, 18, of
Gardendale, Ala., a senior at
Essential Church School, organized a fishing tournament and a
fundraising dinner/auction, and collected donations at outdoor
expos, to provide seven children and young adults with disabilities
with all-terrain power wheelchairs that allow them to safely
navigate the great outdoors with their peers.
Michelle Qin, 17, of
Santa Barbara, Calif., a
junior at Dos Pueblos High School, is the founder and CEO of a
nonprofit organization comprised of more than 100 students in
California, New Jersey and British Columbia who work to empower girls and
women around the world, focused on education, poverty and
health.
Hailey Richman, 10, of
Long Island City, N.Y., a
fifth-grader at Public School 78, has placed more than 10,000
jigsaw puzzles in nursing homes and other senior living facilities
over the past three years, and created an online support group for
kids around the world who have loved ones suffering from
Alzheimer's disease.
Madison Strempek, 13, of
Crofton, Md., a seventh-grader
at Crofton Middle School, wrote and self-published a 46-page book,
Everyone Makes Mistakes, to reassure and comfort children,
like her, who have an incarcerated parent.
Brandon Warren, 18, of
Indianapolis, Ind., a senior
at Warren Central High School, organized a citywide peace march and
community day in Indianapolis to
stand against youth violence, following the murder of a friend and
fellow football player.
William Winslow, 12, of
Raleigh, N.C., a sixth-grader
at Daniels Magnet Middle School, fights childhood hunger in his
community by holding food drives to fill backpacks with weekend
food for children who otherwise might go hungry, and by helping to
build school gardens in neighborhoods where access to fresh food is
limited.
Helena Zimmerman, 16, of
Purchase, N.Y., a junior at
Rye Country Day School, co-founded a nonprofit organization three
years ago that is currently giving more than 3,000 teens in 40
states the opportunity to experience meaningful volunteer work by
teaching and tutoring kids in underserved communities.
The distinguished selection committee that chose the National
Honorees was chaired by Strangfeld and included Kelley of NASSP;
Andrea Bastiani Archibald, chief
girl and family engagement officer for Girl Scouts of the
USA; Anna
Drenning, a national headquarters volunteer recruiter with
the American Red Cross; Natalye
Paquin, chief executive officer of Points of Light;
Kirsten Perry, a school counselor at
Lawndale Community Academy in Chicago,
Ill. and the American School Counselor Association's 2018
School Counselor of the Year; Frederick J.
Riley, national director of urban and youth development at
YMCA of the USA; Tony Shivers, a member of the National PTA Board
of Directors; Rhonda Taylor,
director of partnerships and program engagement for the Corporation
for National and Community Service; Will
Waidelich, executive director of the Association for Middle
Level Education (AMLE); and two 2017 National Honorees:
Amal Bhatnagar, a freshman at
University of California-Berkeley, and
Katie Eder, a senior at Shorewood
High School in Shorewood,
Wis.
Youth volunteers in grades 5-12 were invited to apply for 2018
Prudential Spirit of Community Awards last fall through schools,
Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross
chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of Points of Light's HandsOn
Network.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program was created in
1995 to identify and recognize young people for outstanding
volunteer service – and, in so doing, inspire others to volunteer,
too. In the past 23 years, the program has honored more than
120,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national
level.
For more information about The Prudential Spirit of Community
Awards and this year's honorees, visit
http://spirit.prudential.com or www.nassp.org/spirit.
About NASSP
The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)
is the leading organization of and voice for principals and other
school leaders across the United
States. NASSP seeks to transform education through school
leadership, recognizing that the fulfillment of each student's
potential relies on great leaders in every school committed to the
success of each student. 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 Student Council. Learn
more at www.nassp.org.
About Prudential Financial
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services
leader, has operations in the United
States, Asia, Europe, and Latin
America. Prudential'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's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability,
expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more
information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.
Editors: For pictures of the Spirit of Community
Awards program logo and medallions, visit
https://spirit.prudential.com/resources/media
For B-roll of Florida's honorees at the 2018 national
recognition events, contact Prudential's Harold Banks at (973) 216-4833 or
harold.banks@prudential.com.
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SOURCE Prudential Financial, Inc.