MEDIA RELEASE

America’s 102 most outstanding youth volunteers – two from each state and the District of Columbia – have been named state honorees by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for exemplary acts of volunteerism.

The awards program, now in its 16th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial, Inc. in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Each of the state honorees will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., April 30-May 3 for several days of national recognition events. Ten will be named America’s top youth volunteers for 2011 at that time.

In addition to the state honorees, the program’s judges recognized 233 students nationwide as distinguished finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion.

More than 500 other applicants were awarded Certificates of Excellence for their volunteer work.

A large number of state honorees and distinguished finalists this year – 20 percent – conducted volunteer activities to address needs in foreign countries, especially in Africa and Latin America.

Honorees traveled to volunteer in orphanages, build homes, and teach impoverished children. In their own communities, they collected food, medical supplies, clothing, books, school supplies, eyeglasses, teddy bears, and soccer cleats to send overseas. And they raised money to finance school tuitions, refugee relief, AIDS medications, clean-water projects, and other critical needs in desperate communities around the world.

There was a great deal of energy devoted to needs in the U.S., as well. Many honorees were recognized for assisting Americans who are sick or disabled, aiding the disadvantaged, tutoring or mentoring other young people, and promoting health and safety.

Others were cited for enhancing school or community resources, protecting the environment, taking care of animals, and supporting U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Information on the volunteer activities of all of the honorees can be found at http://spirit.prudential.com

“These award recipients have proven that young people across America are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. “Each and every one of these honorees deserve our respect and admiration, and we hope by shining a light on them, they will continue to serve as an example for others.”

All public and private middle level and high schools in the U.S., as well as all Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November.

More than 5,000 Local Honorees were then reviewed by an independent judging panel, which selected State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists based on criteria such as personal initiative, creativity, effort, impact and personal growth.

“The young people recognized by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards demonstrate an enormous capacity for giving and reaching out to those in need,” said Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “NASSP is proud to honor these student leaders because they are wonderful examples of the high caliber of young people in our nation’s schools today.”

While in Washington, D.C., the 102 state honorees will tour the capital’s landmarks, attend a gala awards ceremony at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and visit their congressional representatives on Capitol Hill.

In addition, 10 of them – five middle level and five high school students – will be named national honorees on May 2 by a prestigious national selection committee. These honorees will receive additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions, crystal trophies, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit, charitable organizations of their choice.

In addition to granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program will distribute President’s Volunteer Service Awards to more than 2,800 of its local honorees this year on behalf of President Barack Obama. The President’s Volunteer Service Award recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities and their country.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represent the United States’ largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service. Since the program began in 1995, more than 95,000 young volunteers have been honored at the local, state or national level.

Hawaii honoree Natalie Mohr

Mohr, 17, a senior at Kealakehe High School, has been a key volunteer for the last six years at an exotic wildlife sanctuary, where she takes care of injured animals, assists with surgical procedures, and educates others about endangered species.

Mohr, who said she is fascinated by animals, learned about volunteer opportunities at the Three Ring Ranch sanctuary while attending a science-based charter school.

“It immediately sparked my interest,” she said, so she signed up for a 10-week after-school mentoring program to learn basic wildlife care.

The more she learned, the more she wanted to volunteer.

“Creating awareness about how to protect Hawaii’s endangered wildlife is imperative,” Mohr said. “Seventy-five percent of all species extinctions in the United States have occurred in Hawaii, and 90 percent of native plants and animals in Hawaii exist nowhere else in the world.”

During her years at the sanctuary, Mohr has personally cared for and rehabilitated hundreds of injured animals before releasing them back into the wild. She has helped veterinarians administer anesthesia, pin broken legs, suture wounds, and administer post-surgical medications and care.

And she has recruited and mentored other volunteers, participated in community outreach programs, and helped build a hands-on science center at the sanctuary.

When the director of the sanctuary needed surgery last year, Mohr took charge, temporarily living at the facility to carry out the day-to-day operations.

Recently, she helped create a mobile veterinary clinic to spay/neuter and vaccinate feral cats and domestic cats of low-income pet owners to keep them from overpopulating and harming Hawaii’s endangered wildlife.

After college, she said, “I plan to return to Hawaii as a veterinarian to continue caring for Hawaii’s endangered wildlife, protecting and preserving them for future generations.”