2011-02-08 14:19:33 -

Elizabeth Lee, 18, of Bloomingdale and Glennita Williams, 14, of South Holland today were named Illinois' top two youth volunteers for 2011 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 16th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Elizabeth was nominated by Lake Park High School in Roselle, and Glennita was nominated by McKinley Junior High School in South Holland.

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 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 2011 at that time.

Elizabeth, a senior at Lake Park High School, teaches children and their parents the importance of toothbrushing and flossing through instructional presentations, games, books, and a website, all of which she developed herself. While serving as an intern at local dentist offices, “I noticed what many dentists notice, a clear lack of daily brushing and flossing,” said Elizabeth. “Then I realized that I don’t have to be a dentist to help people.”


Elizabeth first prepared teaching lessons that she could deliver to both children and parents. She read all the books she could find on dental care, and created two PowerPoint presentations on the importance of brushing and flossing, along with the proper techniques. To keep children interested in her subject, she designed two games, wrote a song, and drew up coloring sheets. She also held a fund-raising event and a school collection drive to be able to hand out basic dental supplies. Elizabeth conducted learning sessions first for three adult English-as-a-Second-Language classes and then tried it out on children at a refugee day-care center. More recently, she has begun teaching students in a special-education class at her high school, and putting on dental exhibitions in her school’s science classes. In addition, she has written two children’s books on dental hygiene, and created the website www.tinytoothbrush.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. as an informational resource for kids, parents and teachers.

Glennita, an eighth-grader at McKinley Junior High School, has collected snacks and personal care items worth more than $14,000, including more than 600 pounds of Hostess Twinkies, for shipment to American troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past four years. When Glennita learned that a friend’s father in Iraq had a craving for Twinkies, “I felt all the soldiers must be craving something sweet from home,” she said. She asked her principal and teacher if her class could help collect Twinkies for the troops, and just 10 days later 1,000 of the golden sponge cakes were shipped overseas.

The next year, Glennita spoke at a student assembly to ask her whole school to collect care items and books, and to draw pictures for veterans at a nearby VA hospital. She then arranged for the school choir to sing at the facility and help distribute 160 care packets. In addition, Glennita sent another 3,000 Twinkies to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Over the past two years, she has involved her entire community in her collection drives, asking businesses, churches, schools and civic organizations to help, and encouraging residents to bring donations to various drop-off points. So far, more than 750 servicemen and women have benefited from Glennita’s efforts. She has started an organization called

“America’s Guardian Angels” to do even more in the future. “It’s important for me to do this volunteer work because it helps people (especially young people) understand that our protection and freedom comes from the sacrifice of servicemen and women, their families, and friends,” she said.

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

Jonny Cohen, 15, of Highland Park, a sophomore at Highland Park High School, designed “GreenShields,” polycarbonate shields that attach to school buses to help decrease pollution and increase gas mileage. After designing a prototype, Jonny recruited help from his school’s environmental awareness club and secured a $26,000 donation from a national online voting campaign to fund the prototype testing and rollout.

Henry DeTrempe, 17, of Barrington, a senior at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, has helped to raise $175,000 through the Alpine Children’s Charity, an organization he helped to create with his family.

Over the past four years, Henry has served as the president of the junior board, recruiting and coordinating volunteers and helping to coordinate the annual Skiathon, which has benefited numerous children’s charities.

Alana Dreimann, 16, of Lake Forest, a junior at Lake Forest High School, has raised nearly $90,000 over the past four years to support the Hualalai Ohana Foundation, a charity that provides academic and medical support for employees of the Hualalai Resort in Hawaii and their families. To raise the funds, Alana has organized “cart wash” events and sold reusable bags filled with recyclable products.

Carlee Graham, 18, of Carlinville, a senior at Carlinville High School, serves as president of her church youth group’s “Feed the Need” program, a project that provides monthly food supplies for 16 needy families.

Carlee manages all the details of the program, including ensuring adequate sponsorship dollars, purchasing the food and coordinating the delivery.

Karina Kedo, 18, of Lake Forest, a senior at Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, created “S.T.A.T.I.C. (Stop Texting and Talking in Cars) Now Illinois,” an awareness campaign to teach teenagers the dangers of talking on the telephone or texting while driving. Karina, who was hit but not seriously hurt by a driver talking on a cell phone, raised $20,000 to purchase two virtual driving simulators, hosted an event for her school, and made her presentation available to high schools throughout Illinois.

Lauren Tasiopoulos, 17, of Libertyville, a senior at Libertyville High School, has raised $60,000 for pancreatic cancer research since founding the “I Want to Be a Lifesaver” campaign in 2006. Lauren, called to action by the tragic death of her 9-year-old cousin who had pancreatic cancer, has created and coordinated numerous events to raise money including skating events, silent auctions and corporate donor programs.

Sebastian Von Zerneck, 18, of Peoria, a senior at Peoria Notre Dame High School, has collected and distributed nearly 4,000 books to organizations serving underprivileged children through his program “Project Bright Bookcases.” Sebastian, motivated by his own love of reading and the realization that needy children often go without books, solicited donations of books and bookshelves and has provided libraries in 10 community organizations.

Ellen Wildman, 16, of Geneva, a junior at Geneva Community High School, has raised more than $50,000 to benefit a local homeless shelter by hosting an annual garage sale over the past seven years. In addition to raising funds for the shelter, Ellen helps to raise awareness about homelessness by presenting each customer with information about the shelter and the plight of the homeless.

“These award recipients have proven that young people across America are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. “Each and every one of these honorees deserve our respect and admiration, and we hope by shining a light on them, they will continue to serve as an example for others.”


“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 these student leaders because 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 affiliates of HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November. More than 5,000 Local Honorees were then reviewed by an independent judging panel, which 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 and five high school students – will be named National Honorees on May 2 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.

Serving on the national selection committee will be John Strangfeld of Prudential; Jana Frieler, president of NASSP; Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of the Points of Light Institute & Hands On Network; Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO of the America’s Promise Alliance; Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council; Pamela Farr, the American Red Cross’ national chair of volunteers; Elson Nash, associate director for project management at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; and two 2010 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Shannon McNamara of Basking Ridge, N.J., and Benjamin Sater of Plano, Texas.

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 2,800 of its Local Honorees this year on behalf of President Barack Obama. 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.

Since the program began in 1995, more than 95,000 young volunteers nationwide have been honored at the local, state or national level. Many prominent public figures have assisted in saluting these honorees over the years, including Jimmy Carter, Barbara Bush, Magic Johnson, John Glenn, Madeleine Albright, Rudy Giuliani, Whoopi Goldberg, Colin Powell, Peyton Manning, Laura Bush, and Condoleezza Rice. The program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland and India.

For information on all of this year’s Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit spirit.prudential.com or www.nassp.org/spirit : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

In existence since 1916, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the preeminent organization of and national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 countries around the world. NASSP’s mission is to promote excellence in school leadership. The National Honor Society ®, National Junior Honor Society ®, National Elementary Honor Society™, and National Association of Student Councils ® are all NASSP programs. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, Va., visit www.nassp.org : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. or call 703-860-0200.

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, investment management, and real estate services. 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/ : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww ..

Editors: Graphics depicting the award program’s logo and medallions may be downloaded from spirit.prudential.com.

" title="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=bwnews&sty=20110208005175r1&sid=16929&distro=ftp\"/>" target="_blank">cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=bwnews&sty=20110208005175r1&am ..

Prudential FinancialHarold Banks(973) 802-8974 (office)(973)
216-4833 (cell) harold.banks@prudential.com : mailto:harold.banks@prudential.com