Mat-Su teens take top Alaska honors in national awards program

BOB MARTINSON/Frontiersman reporter

A 17-year-old Wasilla girl who organizes bone-marrow donation drives and a 14-year-old Palmer boy who works with special-needs students took the state's top honors Tuesday in a nationwide award program aimed at recognizing youths who contribute to their community.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Initiative Awards named Brittany Heck and Kevin Priestley Alaska's top youth volunteers.

The awards program is funded in a partnership between Prudential Financial and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and had more than 20,000 high-school and middle-school students submitting applications for this year's program.

"Year after year, I am amazed and humbled by the selfless leadership and generosity demonstrated by these young people," said Gerald N. Tirossi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. "We are proud to recognize young people who fully understand the importance of helping others in need."

Brittany Heck, a senior, was nominated by Palmer High School for organizing community drives to sign up Alaska Natives and other minorities for the National Marrow Donor Registry, to increase the possibility that people in those population groups will be able to get life-saving bone-marrow transplants when needed.

Brittany grew up in an Athabaskan village and learned over the Internet that fewer than 200 Alaska Natives were on the national registry. She began working with Job Corps, Anchorage Blood Bank and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter and Lions Club on four registration drives, planning potential donors.

Her work resulted in a 17-percent increase in Alaska Natives on the National Marrow Donor Registry.

"If my drives impact and save only one life and bring hope to only one family, I will be perfectly satisfied that my efforts were worthwhile," she said.

Palmer Junior Middle School nominated Kevin Priestley, an eighth-grader, for working with special-needs students as a teacher's aide during summer school last year.

His parents are both involved in special education, so he knew funding for this part of his school district's curriculum was being cut, and felt compelled to help.

"I felt that I should help the teachers and staff who are stretched thin," he said.

As a teacher's aide, Kevin helped teach math, reading, science, penmanship and cooking to children with autism, Down syndrome and learning disabilities. He also monitored them on the playground, and helped with whatever else needed to be done.

In addition, Kevin worked with preschoolers with disabilities, teaching them to write their names and supervising them during swimming sessions. All of this, he said, required a great deal of both patience and energy.

But it was worth it, he said, "especially whenever one of the students I was working with grasped and understood something I taught them."

Two other Alaskans were recognized as distinguished finalists - Katelyn Baldwin, 17, of Wasilla, and Jonathan Weindel, 17, of Anchorage.

Katelyn, a senior at Colony High School in Palmer, organized "Africa Night," a benefit that raised more that $1,500 to support female refugees in Rwanda through the nonprofit organization Women for Women International. She came up with the idea, coordinated and hosted the event, secured business donations and recruited volunteers.

Jonathan, a senior at Dimond High School, is the founder and director of Child Enrichment Mentoring Program, which he started in January 2004. His after-school mentoring program offers hands-on science activities to 15 middle-school students, to increase their interest and ability in both science and math.

Katelyn and Jonathan were each awarded an engraved bronze medal for their outstanding community service activities.

As state honorees, Brittany and Kevin will each 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, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico for several days of national recognition events. Ten will be chosen as America's top youth volunteers for 2005 at that time.

U.S. Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and George Allen of Virginia will serve as co-chairs on the selection committee, which is made up of dignitaries from a wide variety of national groups and foundations that are involved in community activities.