Choosing Leaders Shase Youth Awards Honoring Teens Who Are Making A Difference
Wondering what to do on your spring vacation? You could follow the lead of some pretty incredible teens (and one 9-year-old) who have made their community a better place.
Start a business. Volunteer at a nursing home. Draw attention to the environment. Save a life.
Believe it or not, kids did all that - and more. Eight individuals and one group of teens received Chase Youth Awards last week. They were chosen from more than 450 nominations of youth who try to make a difference. The awards are named in honor of former Spokane Mayor Jim Chase, who was the first mayor to make youth a priority.
Today, Our Generation celebrates the winners. Here’s a group of teens who never had to worry about what to do with their free time.
Personal Achievement: Jason Sadlo
Jason, a 14-year-old at Northwood Junior High, was honored for rising above personal difficulties to help others. He was diagnosed at an early age with learning disabilities and had trouble communicating. After four years in special education, he went into the regular classroom and never looked back.
Jason is a leader in his Boy Scout troop and has dedicated himself to helping the elderly and developmentally disabled adults. His favorite is 101-year-old Dorothy Hanshaw, who he takes for walks, talks with and plays checkers with.
It never occurred to him he would be honored for doing something he enjoys so much.
“I really was amazed,” he said. “There were so many people who deserved it; I felt like I had a one-ina-thousand chance of winning.”
Environmental Concern: Semra Keller
Semra has changed the Deer Park School District. The Deer Park senior has led the Genesis Environmental Club to start paper recycling programs in all the district’s elementary schools and have maintained existing programs in the upper schools.
To boost participation, Semra organized plays through the drama club that were presented at elementary schools. Her Robbie Recycler became a model for younger kids. Semra, nominated by a teacher, “has never sought glory or even recognition.” She’s motivated by a strong desire to better the world.
Community Service: Gavin Doree
Gavin, a Gonzaga Prep senior, doesn’t have a spare minute. He’s ASB president, a volunteer in hospital emergency rooms, a camp counselor at a muscular dystrophy camp, vice president of Prep’s service club and more.
When he hurt his knee last year after being an All-City football player as a junior, he made the best of the situation by becoming an assistant coach for the freshman squad.
What motivates him? “It feels good to help people,” he said. “When I hurt my knee, it was a tough time, but it helped me to help others. I realized that there were people suffering far more than I was. Volunteering gives you a chance to see how other people live.”
Gavin urges other teens to get involved. “It upsets me that (we hear) only of how teens belong in jail. At the Chase Youth Awards, you saw how many teenagers are great people.”
Leadership: Sarah Bryant
It’s easier when you’re in high school to blend into the crowd and try to be like everyone else. Sarah Bryant, a Lewis and Clark senior, has chosen a harder route.
As a member of LC’s Racial and Cultural Equality group, Sarah guides and helps all students to strive for awareness and understanding of all people.
She belongs to MESA (a math and science club), the Rotary Leadership program, the KSPS student panel, the Chase Youth Commission Teen Advisory Council and other community groups. Linda Takami, the teacher who nominated her, said she’s a born leader.
“She is a self-starter and a risktaker,” Takami wrote. “She listens, cares, evaluates and sometimes has to make tough calls. She is willing to speak out even if her comments are not popular.”
Sarah leads with a quiet dignity that allows her to “walk her talk” and to live her life in a way that promotes equality and fairness for all.
Entrepreneurship: Donald Brown Don is a senior at Liberty High School in Spangle, and he’s a budding businessman.
He runs two businesses under the name Spring Valley Enterprises - a repair business and a reselling business. His teacher, Mary Beth Aldrich, points out it’s important to note that Don is gifted.
“He has the ability to diagnose problems and repair a myriad of electrical machines,” she wrote in nominating him. He fixes everything from televisions to computer hardware. His reselling business is basically buying things at liquidation prices and reselling them at a profit. His drive and ambition are good examples to fellow students.
Citizenship: Erin Rice
Erin, a Shadle Park sophomore, watched a television documentary on teen violence and decided someone needed to help. That someone was her, and she quickly set about organizing a teen hotline for the Shadle Park community, with the eventual goal of providing all Spokane teens with an anonymous and confidential support option when in crisis.
In pursuing this dream, Erin has rubbed shoulders with Spokane leaders as well as students and other people who want to help. With the support of Police Chief Terry Mangan, she secured space with COPS Northwest and got several multi-line phones donated by area businesses.
While the crisis line is still in the planning stages, Erin is determined to see it through. She’s encountered a bit of skepticism from adults, but the Chase Youth Award is just the extra push she needed. Her advice to others? “Any idea is a great idea,” she said. “If you run into a problem, just turn around and think of another route. You’ll find the answer.”
Creativity: Amanda Fluaitt
Simply doing what she loves earned this Rogers senior a Chase Youth Award. Amanda serves on the drama board, is the Jazz and Chamber Choir president, attended Musician’s Leadership Conference, was a student liaison for COPS NE Dinner Theater Fund Raiser and performs in several musical and dramatic productions through the year.
“I was thinking about the neat things about the award,” she said. “You can’t plan to get it, you can’t pursue it so everyone will notice you. You just do what you like to do.”
Amanda shares her talents outside school, too. She is active in her youth group at Knox Presbyterian and participated in a mission trip to Europe. She has taught music to preschool children and helped in several drama productions at her former elementary school, Cooper.
Courage: Monica Elizondo
At 9 years old, Monica is a stunning example of the good a person can do, regardless of age.
Monica saved her brother’s life by donating her healthy bone marrow after he was diagnosed with leukemia last year. Without hesitation, Monica gave up school, friends, home and pets to stay at her brother’s side during treatment in Seattle.
The transplant was performed last June, and Monica’s brother has made a miraculous recovery, said an aunt, due not only to Monica’s bone marrow but also because of her comforting presence.
“Her positive outlook and wonderful generosity helped the whole family believe better days were ahead - and she was right!”
Spirit of Jim Chase Group Award: North Central High School
A little competition is always healthy, but NC’s student body really took this year’s Groovy Shoes challenge to heart.
The Groovy Shoes game, an annual spirit contest between NC and Shadle, has a community service component; this year, NC aimed at giving 4,000 hours of community service to Spokane. The resulting work by more than 350 students, parents and staff provided a whopping 9,000-plus hours of volunteer time.
Hundreds of people benefited, including organizations like the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery, East and West Central Community Centers, Spokane Food Bank, Crosswalk, the Ronald McDonald House, SCAN and others.
But this should come as no surprise to anyone who knows NC. In the fall, students gave 174 units of blood to the Blood Bank, more than any school in the area. For Thanksgiving, students held a change drive and 61 families were given $50 certificates to grocery stores. And students raised $1,000 to help pay for the medical expenses and a headstone for a classmate who died recently.
They’re a great example of all the good teens can do.