The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards names Arkansas’s outstanding youth volunteers
Arkansas’s top two youth volunteers were named State Honorees this week by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, which recognizes outstanding student volunteerism.
Abigail Gates, a senior at Clinton High School, and Leyton Gassaway, a seventh-grader at Crowley’s Ridge Academy, will each receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion and a trip to Washington, D.C., for recognition events with the other honorees from each state and the District of Columbia. On May 2, 10 of these students — five middle-level students and five high-school students — will be named National Honorees by a national selection committee.
Abigail Gates was honored for founding “Ride for Life,” an annual equestrian event that raised more than $20,000 for the American Cancer Society in its first two years.
Leyton Gassaway was recognized for having designed a 2.2-mile history trail along the sidewalks of Paragould that tells the town’s story through a brochure and building plaques.
Four runners-up from Arkansas were also chosen as Distinguished Finalists: Mills Bryant, an eighth-grader at Morrilton Junior High School; Whitney Condley, a senior at Hector High School; Hodge Hunter, a senior at Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts; and Melanie Morse, a senior at Benton High School.
The full press release is posted on the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards Web site and more details on all State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists are available here.
Posted by DT.
