SAN GABRIEL VALLEYWIDE NEWS
Congressman David Dreier presented awards to the winner and participants of his 2008 Youth Volunteer Award program last night at the Arcadia Community Center.
Fifty-nine high school students from throughout the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire participated in this year’s program. In addition to the winner and runners up, each of the participants was recognized for their service to the community.
Dreier began the annual award program in 1986 to honor area high school students for their volunteer community service. This year marks the twentieth-second year of the program.
“For several years I have had the privilege of recognizing some very fine students,” said Dreier. “It is very encouraging to know that there are young men and women who have given of themselves to help others. Their decision to volunteer is commendable and I look forward to congratulating and recognizing them."
This year’s winner is Rosetta Ragusa of La Crescenta, who started a club at Locke High School in South Central Los Angeles called ‘Hello, I Am’ which focuses on building self-esteem, character and plans for the future of these underserved, but deserving students. Rosetta was the first runner-up in the program last year.
The 2008 first runner-up is Brenda Ou from San Marino and a senior at San Marino High School. She is co-founder and program director of the Musical Connections Organization.
This program involves performing classical music in convalescent homes for grateful seniors, offering free music lessons to children diagnosed with various developmental disabilities and staging Playing for Pianos, an annual benefit to raise money for pianos that go to assisted-living facilities. So far, Playing for Pianos has raised over $38,000 and donated eight pianos. Brenda is s passionate about the role music has played in the life of special children.
“As I look back on my high school career, I realize I’m extremely fortunate to have found an activity that I genuinely enjoy,” said the Stanford-bound Ou.
Second runner-up is Frances McCloskey, a resident of Sierra Madre and student at Flintridge Preparatory School, who serves as a coach for children with special needs and provides help and support to the families and children with Downs Syndrome. Among a myriad of other humanitarian efforts, Frances volunteers for both the American Red Cross, The City of Hope’s blood drives, as well as Operation Gratitude’s Care Package Drive. Frances was also the youngest ever and only youth commissioner on the Sierra Madre Youth Community Services Commission, overseeing the Parks and Recreation Center in Sierra Madre and all it’s programs.
Alana Mailes of La Cañada Flintridge and is a student at La Cañada High School is a runner-up. She served her community by creating her own choir at Madison Elementary in Pasadena, where the student body consists of mostly low-income, immigrant families.
Initially, the project was conceived to help Alana work towards her Girl Scout Gold Award, when the program lost its funding do to cutbacks, she stepped back in to restart the program and it’s still going strong today.
Caitlin Miller of San Marino, and Polytechnic High School was also named a runner-up. Caitlin has worked on several fundraising campaigns for the American Red Cross and has given of herself to several local non-profit agencies such as the Ronald McDonald House, Pasadena Humane Society and Hillsides Home for Children. Her latest humanitarian effort is the Global Friends Club, which is an exchange program for the United Nations Association where is planning a, book drive to collect books to send to the impoverished nation of Nigeria.
Caitlin Sarian of La Cañada Flintridge and La Cañada High School was also named as a runner-up. Caitlin has been a member of the National Charity League for the last five years where she has assisted the elderly at two convalescent homes, organized and supported both the Special and Tri-Valley Olympics, and volunteered at the YWCAs in the New Horizons for Battered Women and Children program. In addition, Caitlin has packed food items, knitted hats and scarves for the underprivileged through the Salvation Army.
Runner-up Nathaniel Yuan of San Marino and San Marino High School enjoys assisting his church as a Sunday school teacher, aids the elderly at the Chancellor Convalescent Shut-In Program, and is a Junior Volunteer at Arcadia Methodist Hospital. As a proud Boy Scout of America, he pitched in at the Arboretum of Los Angeles County for his Eagle Scout Project.
Marcela Artiga, a resident of Arcadia and student at Arcadia High School, received honorable mention. Marcela is active in her church as the youth group captain of the Pathfinder Club, where she volunteers to feed the homeless in downtown Los Angeles. Through her experience and listening to the stories of the less fortunate, Marcela has realized the importance of staying in school and earning an education.
Elizabeth Blanco of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena Polytechnic High School was also an honorable mentionee. Elizabeth assists with a program for disabled youth that utilize horse riding lessons as a therapeutic program. She is also co-founder of the Interact Club – an affiliate of Rotary International – at her school.
Elizabeth has learned from her experiences “that organizations need strong leadership and vision to successfully influence public policy and to better meet the needs of the individuals, families and communities they serve.”
Wesley Chen of Arcadia and Arcadia High School received honorable mention as he helps deliver medical equipment throughout Methodist Hospital in Arcadia and directs hospital guests to other destinations through the sometime confusing corridors of the hospital.
Sarah Cheng hails from Arcadia where she is a student at Arcadia High School and a volunteer at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, where she is responsible for greeting visitors and patients, escorting people to their destinations and discharging patients.
Sarah says that she would never trade in the hours that have been spent at the hospital for anything, because the smiles on the people that she has met have been priceless.
Grace Chung of La Cañada Flintridge and Crescenta Valley High School uses her talent on the violin and the help of other musicians, Grace has been able to raise money for the AIDS Children of Africa and Childhood Cancer Research.
“I would never have realized the power of my insignificant talent if I hadn’t thought about using it for other people,” Grace said. “I too had experienced hardship. These experiences only made me stronger and more determined to use my talent to assist those in need.”
Grace also received honorable mention.
As did San Marino’s Trevor Dority, who attends San Marino High School and serves the community working with autistic children at the Education Spectrum in Altadena, where he helps them work on their motor skills and life skills.
Trevor also finds time to serve dinner at Union Station one of the San Gabriel Valley’s most highly regarded providers for homeless services.
Nathaniel Kim of Montrose and a student at Maranatha High School received honorable mention for his volunteer service, which entails serving the disabled elderly men and women. Nathaniel also serves as a youth chaplain at his church.
Susan Lee of La Cañada Flintridge and Crescenta Valley High School, participates in Key Club at her school, where she has organized and raised money for breast cancer research, victims of Hurricane Dean and participated in AIDS Walk Los Angeles. Just a sampling of her many good works which earned her honorable mention.
Phillip Liu hails from La Cañada Flintridge, where he attends La Cañada High School. The community service that earned him honorable mention involves volunteer service at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. He is proud to serve in the hospital’s errand and escort department, where some of his duties have included transporting patients, delivering meal trays and various other duties as needed.
Cristine Mendoza lives in Duarte and attends La Salle High School in Pasadena. Her community service involves volunteer duty at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia. She’s proud to serve in the hospitals’ volunteer office, where she serves as receptionist to greet visitors to the office. Cristine also performs a variety of clerical tasks and directs people to their destinations within the hospital, which earned her honorable mention from Congressman Dreier.
Tanu Mondkar resides in La Cañada Flintridge and attends La Cañada High School. Her community service consists of helping staff and patients at Huntington Memorial Hospital’s errand and escort eepartment, where she is responsible for transporting patients, delivering flowers and transporting blood to and from the various labs, for which she received honorable mention.
Alexandra Paul lives in San Marino and attends at Polytechnic High School in Pasadena. Her commitment to community service that earned her honorable mention has led her to serve the Huntington Memorial Hospital in the errand and escort department, Pasadena Humane Society, American Cancer Society Race for the Cure, American Red Cross and the San Marino Public Library. Alexandra also spent time over her Thanksgiving break in Mexico building a home for a family in need.
Timothy Sae Koo, a resident of Arcadia where he attends Arcadia High School, serves the community-at-large by performing various tasks and duties at the Arcadia Public Library, Methodist Hospital, the Los Angeles Zoo and the Glendale Humane Society to earn honorable mention from the Congressman. Timothy also has found the time to represent his school as student body president.
Michelle Schuster calls Monrovia home and attends Rio Hondo Preparatory School in Arcadia. Through her experience as an assistant youth leader in the Kare Youth League, she has coached and tutored 2nd through 4th grade girls. Michelle is hoping by helping these young girls get better grades that they will be able to go to the college of their choice, and she received honorable mention for her service to them.
Brandi Seaman is a resident of San Marino where she’s a student at San Marino High School. Through her experience as a junior volunteer at Huntington Memorial Hospital’s emergency room, Brandi initiated a program titled ‘Bear Hugs – Sharing Lots of Love.’ With the partnership of her school and Huntington Hospital they have collected new stuff animals to be handed out to children visiting the emergency room.
Honorable mentionee Brandi believes that through her project she will be allowed to make a difference in her community.
Karen Tsai of Arcadia is enrolled at Arcadia High School. As a junior volunteer at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, she assists the admitting department by passing out guest tags, delivering flowers, transporting patients to and from rooms, and delivering paperwork from the emergency room to the admitting desk. She also donates time with the Arcadia Chinese Association and received honorable mention.
Kevin Tsai of Arcadia attends Arcadia High School, where his community service consists of helping staff and patients at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia as a junior volunteer. He also has donated time with the Arcadia Chinese Association. Kevin has come to realize that even though the duty of a volunteer is sometimes overlooked, the impact of many volunteers is large, and received honorable mention from Dreier for his service.
Gina Tucker resides in La Cañada Flintridge and attends La Cañada High School. Her commitment to community service led her to the Afghan Pen Pal Program through the Alliance for International Women’s Rights. Every Wednesday and Sunday morning she communicates with her pen pal Tamanna – who lives in Kabul – through a computer program called Skype. They have discussions that usually consist of cultural differences in the world of teenagers. Gina, who received honorable mention from Dreier, says that she has realized that she can make a difference in the life of someone halfway across the world and is hoping that more young people will take advantage of this opportunity to make friends with the youth of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Judy Tung lives in San Marino where she attends San Marino High School. Through her participation in her school’s Key Club, she has written letters to soldiers in Iraq and made cards for sick children in hospitals. Outside of school, Judy has been a counselor at Camp Escapes that helps children with disabilities.
She also interns at the University of Southern California where they are studying obesity in teenagers. This internship program researches the correlation between lifestyles, eating, and exercise habits of these youth groups. Through these activities, Judy believes that she has learned skills that will help her in the quest to become a good pediatrician and received honorable mention.
Emily van den Bosch, a resident of Arcadia, attends Arcadia High School. Her volunteerism revolves around serving at the Country Villa Nursing home in Arcadia, where she reads books and the Bible to the residents, oversees the Bingo games and lends an ear to the patients so they have someone to talk too.
Emily received honorable mention from Congressman Dreier and believes that being a volunteer has taught her so much about life and showed her that the smallest act of kindness can help someone find happiness and comfort.
Michael Vu, who also received honorable mention at last night’s event, calls Pasadena home and attends St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge. His community service consists of helping staff and patients at Huntington Memorial Hospital’s errand and escort department, where Michael helps transporting and discharging patients, delivering flowers and also assists with the training of the new junior volunteers at the hospital.
Ferris Yeh of South Pasadena attends South Pasadena High School. His community service involves volunteering at Huntington Memorial Hospital, where he’s proud to serve in the hospitals’ errand and escort department, where some of his duties have included transporting patients, delivering meal trays and various other duties as needed by the hospital. Ferris also serves at the San Marino – South Pasadena YMCA as an assistant instructor for a children’s martial arts class and earned honorable mention from Dreier.
Edwin Yuan resides in San Gabriel and attends San Marino High School. His community service consists of helping staff at the Crowell Public Library in by shelving books, repacking DVD’s and working on other assigned projects. Edwin’s feeling of accomplishment as a volunteer is best summed up in his belief that, “the reason people work tirelessly for something they seemingly get no personal reward from, because actually, they are rewarded. They are rewarded with the knowledge that they made a genuine, significant difference on this world.” Edwin was rewarded with honorable mention from Congressman David Dreier.
To participate in the program, students submitted an application, wrote an essay on volunteerism, and provided a letter of recommendation. They were then interviewed by a board of community leaders about their volunteer activities.