Allegany County
Amy Hershberger, Center for Career & Technical Education, 12th Grade
Amy has organized food collection campaigns for several different charities, including a special effort after the September 11 tragedy. She has also served with the Make a Wish Foundation, St. Jude’s Hospital fund-raising programs, Dr. Laura’s Bags of Plenty Campaign and as a physical therapy volunteer with several organizations.
Justin Edwards, Center for Career & Technical Education, 12th Grade
Justin has contributed to his community through a residential rehabilitation project and has developed significant construction skills in the process. He has been a leader for the local Vocational and Industrial club and Student Council and participated in a special project to raise money for the New York rescue Workers’ Fund.
Anne Arundel County
David Miller, South River High School, 12th Grade
David has worked with a number of programs to help youth in his community. He is president of South River’s Youth RISE Program, has chaired the school- tutoring program, managing over thirty high school volunteers working with middle school students. He has volunteered with Special Olympics and Christmas in April. He is currently organizing the Kids Helping Kids Harvest for the Hungry and a special leadership camp for nearly 400 high school students.
Amy Lambert, North County High School, 12th Grade
Amy volunteers in the local soup kitchen in Glen Burnie and has participated in significant ways in State political training. She will serve as a page in the upcoming session of the General Assembly and has attended special seminars to prepare her for a more active role in political affairs.
Baltimore City
Antwion Copes, Fairmount-Harford High School, 12th Grade
Antwion has been a leader in his class by working especially with the building service staff at his school. He has organized and carried out several class projects and tutored fellow students as they seek to put together their own projects and service-learning activities.
Jacqueline Johnson, Forest Park High School, 12th Grade
Jacqueline works with society’s most needy populations: the very young and the very old. She has devoted special attention to the needs of women and is active in providing emotional, physical and social support to women who have experienced trauma in their lives.
Baltimore County
Jenna Newman, Pikesville High School, 12th Grade
Jenna has founded and run her own non-profit foundation to raise money for children with special needs. This effort has produced well over her personal goal of $10,000 and arose from her regular weekly volunteer efforts at Kennedy Krieger Institute engaging children with mental and physical handicaps in therapeutic and recreational activities.
Kurt Pfund, Dulaney High School, 12th Grade
In the past two years, Kurt has volunteered at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center. He has built a special exhibit for the Center focusing on birds, which includes a binocular set for observation, a game for children, a reading area for adults and live exhibits. He has also written a guide to the birds of Oregon Ridge.
Calvert County
Dale Kreller III, Patuxent High School, 12th Grade
Dale has participated in and now chairs a program to provide dinners for senior citizens, He spearheaded the collection effort of canned goods after September 11th, volunteered for Hospice, Red Cross blood drives, the fight against Cystic Fibrosis, and a series of Earth Week clean-up activities at his high school.
Stacey LeFevre, Northern High School, 12th Grade
Stacey has done considerable volunteer work for the local health department and has worked with Festival of Trees for the past four years to benefit the local Hospice chapter. She is active in her school and works to build cross-cultural bridges by welcoming a foreign exchange student.
Caroline County
James Seward, North Caroline High School, 11th Grade
James participated on his own initiative in the collection of canned goods for the hungry, collecting goods, unloading and storing the food supplies and helping to distribute food to various points in the county. He organized a special bike drive to support St. Martin’s Barn. This experience has led him to become a regular volunteer at St. Martin’s Barn on a number of projects.
Carroll County
Erin Kepler, Francis Scott Key High School, 12th Grade
Erin volunteers at the Taneytown Library and at the Taneytown Volunteer Center. She has also helped with food drives and with numerous Key Club activities. During middle school she also volunteered with the courtyard eco-system project.
Lisa Cooke, Liberty High School, 12th Grade
Lisa has volunteered in a reading program for young children and on a special literacy project on the Navajo Indian reservation in New Mexico where she also participated in a building project alongside Navajo youth. She also participates in a singing group, which benefits the less fortunate in her community.
Cecil County
Darryl Osborne, Elkton High School, 12th Grade
Darryl is heavily involved with the State Police Explorer Program, teaching others about traffic and bicycle safety and working with groups of youth to develop greater traffic safety awareness. He is also active in his church and has helped to organize a series of programs for the young people of that community.
Kelly McGuirk, Perryville High School, 12th Grade
A positive person in all she does, Kelly volunteers regularly for the Ray of Hope Mission, for the local soup kitchen and in several local nursing homes. She has also been active in organizing blood drives in the community. She is active as community leader and looks to develop those skills further in the future.
Charles County
Dorchester County
Caitlin Murray, North Dorchester High School, 12th Grade
Caitlin volunteers through several school activities, such as Key Club, the Honor Society and the Tri-M Music Honorary. Through the county hospital Junior Volunteer Auxiliary, she also spends every Thursday afternoon in the ICU and other units performing a wide range of volunteer activities for the patients.
Chareka Harris, Cambridge South Dorchester High School, 12th Grade
Chareka is a tour guide for the Harriet Tubman Organization, taking visitors to see historical sites and conveying the lessons of resisting oppression. She helps to organize community events with the Cambridge Human Relations Committee and has been a bell ringer for the Salvation Army. She tutors local elementary and middle school students.
Frederick County
Kara Sutherland, Governor Thomas Johnson High School, 12th Grade
Co-chair of the Fredrick County Service-Learning Advisory Board, Kara plans and implements service-learning projects, speaks and writes about service-learning, and seeks to enhance the quality of service-learning projects in the county. She also organized a mini-walk for the homeless, a Christmas project for needy children, and works at a shelter for women and children, preparing food and tutoring.
Kaitlyn Sutherland, Governor Thomas Johnson High School, 12th Grade
Co-chair of the Frederick County Service-Learning Advisory Board, Kaitlyn plans and implements numerous service projects throughout the county including organizing a Senior-Senior Prom at an adult day-care center. She tutors children at the Frederick Youth Center, prepares and serves meals for homeless women and children, and organizes and trains her peers to participate in the community.
Garrett County
Amanda Hahn, Northern High School, 12th Grade
Amanda is a peer counselor and mediator, tutors other students and volunteers in a soup kitchen working with mentally challenged adults. She is active with the Red Cross, trains others in first aid and CPR, and contributed time regularly to help with the physically challenged and the elderly.
Joseph Graham, Southern High School, 12th Grade
Joseph is very involved with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter, raising funds to benefit the veterans and their families. He has also been a leader in programs to discourage drug and alcohol abuse, is an after-school tutor and mentor to younger students, and volunteers with disabled veterans.
Harford County
Katie Warner, C. Milton Wright High School, 11th Grade
Katie has been an active volunteer with the Red Cross and started a chapter in her high school. She has been a Red Cross leader throughout the state, has spoken at various statewide functions and in training other students in a wide variety of Red Cross sponsored activities.
Amy Jasovsky, Bel Air High School, 12th Grade
Amy has not only participated in a series of activities in support of special needs students, she has expanded the program in her school, developed a special program to provide recreational opportunities for these students and helped organize and train others to be tutors and mentors to them. She is active in the Special Olympics and is involved in honoring American Veterans.
Howard County
Dana Sturdivant, Howard High School, 12th Grade
Dana volunteers 30-40 hours per month at local elementary schools, working with elementary children, and at the Second Chance Cat Rescue, a local animal shelter for stray and homeless cats. This combination of love of children and animals will continue to be a focus for her in the future.
Leslie Stirn, Glenelg High School, 12th Grade
As a volunteer for Foreign Information Referral Network (FIRN), Leslie has taught English to several international children. She also teaches and provides therapy to children afflicted with autism and other sensorimotor disabilities. She sings in a group that she helped to organize and travels to nursing homes and other organizations to present special programs.
Kent County
Ken Castelli, Kent County High School, 12 Grade
Ken has dedicated many hours to the completion of the Sultana Project, rebuilding an 18th century sailing ship, which will be used as an educational tool to teach Maryland students about the Chesapeake Bay.
Shirley Patrick, Kent County High School, 12th Grade
Shirley has volunteered regularly at the Kent Center, a facility for the mentally and physically handicapped. She reads and talks with the residents and helps them with a series of special tasks. This has been a significant learning experience for her as she works with people whose resources are limited.
Montgomery County
Sumita Nair, Gaithersburg High School, 12th Grade
Through her leadership of the school Leo Club, Sumita has led volunteer efforts at the local soup kitchen, organized drives for used eyeglasses and canned food. She has sponsored international children and has conducted blood drives for the local Red Cross. She is a mentor for younger children as well, teaching, among other things, Indian dance and tennis.
Michael Ader, Rockville High School, 12th Grade
Having worked at several local elementary schools for a number of years, Michael now devotes the majority of his volunteer time to the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department. In that capacity he is trained as an emergency medical technician and firefighter and looks forward to continuing his volunteer efforts in firefighting into adulthood.
Prince George's County
Megan Baker, Central High School, 11th Grade
Megan’s community service includes tutoring handicapped children, feeding the homeless, assisting in the United Way Campaign and coordinating holiday baskets for needy families. She has also participated in projects to help enhance the school’s environment and with visits to nursing homes in the community.
N’Mah Yilla, High Point High School, 12th Grade
N’Mah has participated extensively in park clean-ups in Washington, D.C. and has been involved in serving lunch to the local homeless population. She has also tutored others in A.P. Biology, English, History, and Government. She plans to continue to give back to the community.
Queen Anne's County
Marissa Thrasher, Kent Island High School, 11th Grade
Marissa has been the Team Captain for Relay for Life, has served as the President of the local 4-H Club and, in that capacity, has coordinated special efforts to promote safe Halloween activities for the community. She also helped to gather canned goods for the hungry at holidays.
Laura Bennett, Queen Anne’s County High School, 12th Grade
Laura has been an active member of Youth RISE since the ninth grade. She has served as the student representative to the local management board: “Community Partnerships for Children.” She volunteers with and organizes others to work for SADD, Empty Bowls, Children’s Christmas Party, Adopt-A-Family, and numerous food drives to benefit local pantries & homeless shelters.
St. Mary's County
Kristen Adair, Chopticon High School, 12th Grade
Kristen is a volunteer photographer for St. Clement’s Museum and has worked with the Appalachian Service Project doing trail restoration. She volunteers at a local nursery center and performs with the Lord Proprietors Players Association to benefit the community at St. Clement’s Island.
Jennifer Smith, Chopticon High School, 12th Grade
Jennifer participates numerous in food drives and American Red Cross blood drives at her school. She has volunteered for the Christmas in April program and the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Clean-up Baltimore project.
Somerset County
Dustin McLeod, Washington High School, 12th Grade
A budding architect, Dustin has volunteered in constructing stages for local special events and has worked with a number of children’s activities in the county. Through his work with the Farm Bureau, he has visited local projects and worked especially with children.
Talbot County
Damon Effingham, Easton High School, 12th Grade
Damon actively serves through his school SGA, Honor Society, and other school organizations. He tutors math and science and works with a variety of community projects with senior citizens and food drives for the needy. He is also a member of his school’s Chamber Singers and Choir.
Karen Caldwell, St. Michael’s High School, 12th Grade
Karen works as a mentor for underprivileged children and volunteers in a number of school organizations. She has also helped to organize and implement programs in the community to discourage the use and abuse of drugs.
Washington County
Andrew Ogle, Clear Springs High School, 10th Grade
Andrew’s primary volunteer activity has been at Fort Frederick State Park, where he serves as a historical interpreter and conducts regular tours of the fort. In this capacity, he takes on the character of a fictional character form the 1700’s. He also helps to maintain the park and helps enhance its availability to the public.
Whytne Brooks, North Hagerstown High School, 11th Grade
Class president of her junior class, Whytne participates in a number of school projects related to food drives and highway beautification. She has also used her considerable talents as a singer and dancer to provide programs for the elderly and teach young people these skills.
Wicomico County
Jerry Conway, Wicomico High School, 12th Grade
The volunteer “conductor” of his high school pep band, Michael has also organized blood drives, food drives and other school projects. He participated in the “Relay for Life,” a fund-raiser for cancer victims, and has been active with the Salvation Army and senior citizens’ projects.
Emily Smoak, James M. Bennett High School, 10th Grade
Emily has volunteered for over sixteen different projects during her school career. She is a tutor, works with a local elementary reading program, helped create the James M. Bennett Memorial Garden, coaches swimming to children and works at the local soup kitchen.
Worcester County
Gina Chamberlain, Stephen Decatur High School, 12th Grade
Gina mentors elementary school children through Project Outreach. She has also organized the local Red Cross drive, baked for Meals on Wheels, and delivered cards to nursing homes. Her emphasis on children is the hallmark of her service activity.