WASHINGTON–Samantha Kerker, 17, of Boca Raton, Fla., was named one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers of 2012 today in a ceremony at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, winning a national Prudential Spirit of Community Award for her outstanding volunteer service. Selected from a field of more than 26,000 youth volunteers across the country, Samantha received a personal award $5,000, an engraved gold medallion, a crystal trophy for her school, and a $5,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation for a nonprofit charitable organization of her choice.
Samantha was named Florida’s top youth volunteer in February, and was officially recognized last night at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History along with the top two youth volunteers in each state and the District of Columbia. At that event, each of the 102 State Honorees for 2012 received $1,000 awards as well as personal congratulations from New York Giants quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. The honorees also received engraved silver medallions and an all-expense-paid trip with their parents to Washington, D.C., for this week’s recognition events.
Samantha, a junior at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach, founded a student club with chapters in all 28 high schools in Palm Beach County to promote monthly service projects benefiting poor people, and is now working to send 60 students on a poverty-focused mission to a third-world country. Inspired by local university students and faculty who lost their lives in Haiti’s devastating earthquake while aiding the poor, Samantha used $7,000 from her own nonprofit tie-dye business to build a home for a homeless family in Nicaragua. When she returned home, Samantha told her friends about her experience, and realized how little they knew about the lives of the poor. “That is when I knew I had to do something,” she said. “Teenagers don’t understand what extreme poverty means. I wanted to give every student in Palm Beach County an opportunity to experience poverty on a local and international level.”
Samantha proposed starting a “Students for the Poor” club in every high school in the county. She developed a mission statement and met with the school district’s superintendent and high school principals to present her case. The idea proved very popular. More than 450 students signed up for Samantha’s club at her school, making it the largest club in school history. There are also more than 1,000 students currently involved in the 28 clubs throughout the county. Each month, club members partner with local community service organizations to sponsor an event or undertake another project to make a difference for people living in poverty. Recently, she collaborated with six other clubs to host a benefit concert where she supervised all the production of the event that was attended by more than 500 people and created interest in clubs throughout Palm Beach County. Samantha is also now raising money for her “Living In The Shoes” program, which selects 60 students to participate in a mission trip to a developing country to assist in the funding and construction of a project of their choice.
“Through their extraordinary acts of volunteerism, these students are powerful examples of the way one young person can make a big impact,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. “We are proud to honor them for their achievements, and hope their stories inspire others to consider how they, too, can make a difference.”
More than 26,000 young people participated in the 2012 awards program last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of the HandsOn Network. The top middle level and high school applicants in each state were selected in February, and flown to Washington this week with their parents for four days of special recognition events.