South Side youths among Chase Award winners who enrich community

The Chase Youth Awards were presented March 27, and several South Side students received awards for citizenship, community service, courage, creativity, diversity, leadership and personal achievement. There were four groups of nominations – youth, middle school, teens and adults.

Youth winners

Girl Scout Troop No. 309

Pamela Adams nominated the 12 girls of Girls Scout Troop No. 309 for the Creativity Award for their work with Royal Park Assisted Living.

Adams said that the girls, who range in age from 7 to 9, visit the residents of the center to sing Christmas carols, share refreshments and help with craft projects.

Adams and her co-leader, Barbara Sells, said they are impressed with the girls’ behavior when they visit and the girls provide a loving atmosphere.

“The smiles they give with their caring attitudes is very heartwarming,” Adams said in her nomination letter. “The 12 are truly radiant and excel in whatever they take on.”

Gina Myers

Eleven-year-old Gina Myers was nominated for the Diversity Award by her mother, Lori.

Gina’s family had an opportunity to visit the Masai tribe in Kenya two years ago, where she learned how to make mud bricks that were used for buildings, attended a Masai school and learned about the culture of the tribe.

The next year, she and her family visited the Otavalos in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador.

While there, Gina taught an English lesson for the students of the school and traveled down the Amazon River to visit with the Huaroni people and learned how they live off of the forest.

Since her return to Spokane, she has shared her experiences with other students and attends lectures about world religions and cultures.

“I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this caring, concerned, culturally aware young lady,” Lori said in her nomination letter.

Middle school winners

Katrina Hofer

Hofer, a seventh-grader at Medical Lake Middle School, was nominated by her school counselor, Lisa Prewitt, for the Leadership Award.

Hofer Katrina and her friend, Andria Rainbolt, organized a book drive for the Sacajawea Middle School library after it was destroyed by arson. The two collected 450 new and gently used books for the school, even though Katrina goes to school in Medical Lake.

She is also involved in her church, Manito United Methodist Church, where she serves the Eucharist and loves to speak during the worship service, even though she has a speech impediment.

“They (Katrina and Andria) felt empathy for others, they felt a duty to help,” Prewitt said in her nomination letter.

Youth for Comstock Park Pool

Dominick, 14, Maria, 10, and Luigi Franchino and Caitlyn Kurlich, both 13, were nominated for the Middle School Group Citizenship Award by Bob Brandkamp.

Brandkamp said these children learned that the Comstock Pool might close because of budget constraints. The Franchino children started a petition to keep the pool open. Kurlich made a PowerPoint presentation to the Park Board that illustrated reasons to keep the pool open. Brandkamp said it was their efforts that kept the pool in the community.

“These youth undertook their actions not in order to receive recognition, but to give to the community,” Brandkamp said in his nomination letter.

Anna Swenson

Barbara Olson, a language arts teacher, nominated 14-year-old Cheney Middle School student Anna Swenson for the Middle School Creativity Award.

Swenson has been a ballerina since age 6. She started dancing because she wanted to be as beautiful as the Sugar Plum Fairy in “The Nutcracker.”

Since then, she has performed in the annual holiday ballet as a mouse and a soldier. She dances five days a week for an average of three hours a day and attends the Ballet Arts Academy summer program every year.

Even though she is busy with her dancing, Anna is regularly on the school’s honor roll.

In her nomination letter, Olson said, “Her commitment for meeting expectations at school carries over into her dance obligations, as she is a devoted student of this discipline.”

Teen winners

Allie McDonnell

Allie McDonnell, an 11th-grader at Lewis and Clark High School, was nominated for the Teen Citizenship award by Chris Draper, her stepbrother and a freshman at her school.

Draper said that Allie studies Braille and often translates children’s books into Braille so blind children can enjoy them.

She is eager to help anyone with their schoolwork, even Draper, with his English homework, and is applying to become a teacher’s aide in math.

Allie is also involved in two youth groups, and her stepbrother said she is very knowledgeable in her faith.

“Her passion is as strong as her resolve, and her dedication is awing,” Chris said.

Trevor Brown

Trevor Brown, a Gonzaga Prep 11th-grader, was nominated for the Teen Community Service Award by his mother, Lisa Brown.

Trevor spends his free time volunteering as a recreation specialist at the Shriners Hospital for Children, the Union Gospel Mission, Crosswalk and a Cool Cup of Water.

He’s been to Tijuana, Mexico, to build houses for poor people and helps operate a Bible camp in Westport, Wash.

Through his school’s annual food drive, he’s collected more than 500 pounds of food. Since reading about the genocide in Darfur, Trevor has designed T-shirts to sell for the CARE Relief Fund and teaches others about the problem.

“He is very humble and would rather not have the spotlight on him,” Lisa said in her nomination letter. “But rather on the causes that he is supporting.”

Austan Pierce

Ferris High School freshman Austan Pierce battled a rare bone cancer, and in the sixth grade he needed a pelvis transplant because of the effects of chemotherapy and radiation.

He later suffered from two broken femurs and had to have half of his pelvis and his left leg amputated.

Nominated for the Teen Courage Award by his world history honors teacher, Mara Bischoff, Pierce comes to school eager to learn about math, science, history and life.

Now there is spinal fluid building up and creating pressure on his optic nerves, and he is losing his eyesight, but he is still maintaining an A grade-point average.

“He teaches me that I should relish the important things in life, hold my family tight, to be thankful for the life that I have, and do it with a sparkle in my eye and a smile on my face,” said Bischoff.

The Vox

Erin Daniels, the adviser for the student-produced newspaper The Vox at The Spokesman-Review, nominated this group of students throughout Spokane County for the Teen Group Creativity Award.

The students gathered several times to discuss what they would want in a newspaper geared toward their age groups. Several were selected as editors, and they chose their staff of writers, photographers and graphic designers to produce the monthly newspaper that is circulated to 30,000 teens in Spokane County.

“They make me proud every day as they spend countless hours creating a product that Spokane teens can enjoy,” Daniels said in her nomination letter. “I nominate the first staff of the Vox because they are the pioneers of what will become a huge creative outlet for the teens of Spokane.”

The Vox editors are Tyler Slauson, Anna Marie Schaefer, Robert Weigle, Rachel Scott and Lillian Dubiel, Lewis and Clark; Tori Dykes, Gonzaga Prep; Joshua Millet and Mikayla Hunter, Ferris; Maggie Capwell, North Central; Danielle Price, Mt. Spokane; Ashley Johnson, Central Valley; Lauren Colton, Mead; Claire Graman, Lakeside; and Anthony Schultz, Cheney.

Andrew Warren

Fighting hatred and prejudice in high school can be a challenge. Andrew Warren is a sophomore at Cheney High School and experienced harassment because he is gay.

Bonnie Aspen, the operations/outreach coordinator at Odyssey Youth Center, nominated Warren for the Teen Diversity Award for his efforts to start a club at his high school for any member of a minority group who is looking for a safe haven.

Originally, he wanted to start a Gay/Straight Alliance group, as many high schools in the country have, but decided that a group called Pride Against Prejudice could encompass many more victims of hatred and oppression.

“Andrew has found his voice and personal pride,” Aspen said in her nomination letter. “He has been determined to affect change at Cheney High School. Because of Andrew’s dedication to what he believes to be true, all students at Cheney High School are safer and also empowered.”