Congratulations to Keefer Brown

Congratulations! to Keefer Brown, Teeland Middle School seventh-grader, this week’s MSBSD Student of the Week.

Brown was nominated by his principal, Katherine Ellsworth, who said he “is a very fine student. He is focused on tasks at hand and gives his best in completing school work.”

Keefer is the son of Kirk and Kim Brown. He is a member of Teeland’s winning Science Olympiad teams. Announced Feb. 7, Keefer is one of two Alaska youths named by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards as two of America’s 102 most outstanding youth volunteers for exemplary acts of volunteerism. Keefer wins a $1,000 cash award, an engraved silver medallion and an all-expense paid trip to in early May to Washington, D.C.

Adopting a harbor seal in 2010 for an initial $50 was Keefer’s beginning step in his volunteer efforts for the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward. Raising that initial $50 by making and selling candles decorated with shells and seaweed collected on the beach in Seward, Keefer went on to raise $1,300 the first summer for the center, and another $2,300 last summer. The center honored Keefer at a gala in Anchorage, allowed him to name a baby seal and attended the release of two harbor seals into the wild. In the SeaLife Ships Blog, staffers write, “Keefer clearly is an amazing communicator, an exceptional entrepreneur, and a practicing philanthropist.”

Keefer was recognized at a Mat-Su Borough School District School Board meeting last year for his volunteerism, winning a Spirit of Youth Award.

Superintendent Dr. Deena Paramo and the Mat-Su Borough School District honor Keefer as this week’s MSBSD Student of the Week.