(NAPSA)—For their extraordinary efforts in serving others through volunteerism, 10 middle and high school students from across the country have been named America’s top 10 youth volunteers for 2010. The honorees in the 15th annual Prudential Spirit of Com- munity Awards include a 12-yearold Arizona boy whoinitiated a community garden that yielded more than 7,000 pounds of fresh produce for 85 needy families, a New Jersey high school girl who created libraries for three schools in rural Tanzania, and an 18-yearold Texan who has raised more than $800,000 for a local hospital by organizing an annual children’s golf tournament. The honorees were selected on the basis of their personal initiative, effort and impact. They received personal awards of $5,000, engraved gold medallions, crystal trophies for the schools or organizations that nominated them and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for the charities of their choice. The award ceremony was part of a four-day celebration that brought the top two youth volunteers from each state to the nation’s capital with their parents to be recognized for their outstanding acts of community service. Selected from more than 21,000 applicants across the country, the young volunteers were personally congratulated by ] Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently helped honor two students for outstand- ing acts of communityservice. former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Olympic snowboarding champion Seth Wescott. “Their compassion and commitment are already making a real difference in so manylives, and I have no doubt that their leadership will continue to positively impact the world for many years to come,” said Dr. Rice. Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created 15 years ago by Prudential Financial, Inc. to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models. Since then, the program has honored more than 90,000 young volunteers at local, state and national levels. For more information about the awards and this year’s honorees, visit http://spirit.prudential.com.
