Recently, I met with two exceptional young people from our state — Nathan Kinney, 12, of Phillips and Laura Stein, 17, of Rockport — who were in Washington to be honored for their outstanding achievements in community service. Both were selected from 24,000 youth volunteers throughout America to receive the 2003 Prudential Spirit of Community Award. Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created eight years ago by Prudential to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models. Only two young people from each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, are selected each year for this honor.
Nathan's and Laura's stories offer proof that the brightest leaders of tomorrow are already involved in their communities in meaningful and significant ways. I'd like to share their stories with you.
A seventh grader at Phillips Elementary School, Nathan Kinney raised funds and helped construct a new roadside sign for his town. Nathan volunteered to organize the project after hearing numerous complaints about how dilapidated the old welcome sign had become. "It's important because as people enter our town they see certain things," Nathan explains. "They look around and if things look good then, they'll say, ‘This town looks O.K!'" Nathan, who is serving as a Seventh Grade Senator, along with other members of the Phillips Elementary Student Council, solicited donations from 43 local businesses to get the project started. With donations in hand, Nathan then rounded up volunteers to help construct and paint the new sign, ordered and installed stickers advertising various community businesses, and worked with other student council members to install it along the road into town. "It was difficult getting it organized because it was the end of the school year," Nathan says, adding, "It was worth it." Nathan is interested in government and is hoping to attend the State Convention of the Maine Association of Student Councils in Calais as a State Representative. It is inspiring to see young people working so hard, and I have every confidence that Nathan will continue his community service in the years to come.
Maine's other honoree, Laura Stein, is equally deserving of the Prudential Spirit of Community Award. Laura, a junior at Camden Hills Regional High School, established and now runs a weekly tennis clinic for cognitively impaired adults living in her community. "I've played tennis for 13 years, and I wanted to share the game with people who wouldn't otherwise be able to," she says. Laura says the project aims to give participants the opportunity to interact with the community, have fun, and enjoy a genuine sense of accomplishment.
Laura began by obtaining support from the director of a local center for cognitively impaired adults and then solicited donations of court time and money for tennis rackets, balls, and other equipment. She recruited her brother and another friend to help, developed lesson plans for each session, and coordinated schedules and arrangements for every participant. In the program's second season, Laura started planning a statewide expansion of her program and would like to see tennis added as an event at the Maine Special Olympics. "They're a really neat group of people," Laura says of the participants, "and they bring an enthusiasm like no one else." Laura's own enthusiasm for helping her neighbors is equally special, and Mainers should be proud of dedicated young people like Laura who are working to improve our state.
Nathan's and Laura's community spirit and hard work are certainly remarkable. Moreover, I know first hand that many other Maine communities benefit from the service and the involvement of caring teens just like them. Their work not only reinforces the social fabric of our towns, but it also strengthens our democracy. The future of our nation depends on the active involvement of young Americans in public and community service. The commitment to these ideals that Nathan, Laura and thousands of their peers have demonstrated surely bodes well for our nation's future.