Anne Arundel County Youth Encouraged To Apply For National Award

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — Students in grades fifth through 12th across the state are invited to apply for the 2020 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards for having made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. Caleb Oh of Gambrills was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2019.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize the exemplary volunteer work of middle level and high school students. Since then, Prudential Spirit of Community Awards have been given to more than 130,000 middle and high school students across the country at the local, state and national level.

Maryland's top youth volunteers for 2019 were Alexia Ayuk, 17, of Gaithersburg, who helped form a nonprofit organization that has distributed more than 19,000 books to schools in low-income areas, and to hospitals and shelters, with a goal of providing as many children as possible with a book on their birthdays, and Caleb Oh, 14, of Gambrills, who has spent more than 1,000 hours volunteering in many ways over the past seven years to aid people who are homeless, hungry or have other needs. Caleb also was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2019.

To apply for a 2020 Prudential Spirit of Community Award, students and certifiers must complete the following steps:

• Students complete the online application by Nov. 5, 2019.
• Then, students submit the application for certification to their principal or head of a local participating organization.
• Certifiers review all applications for their school or organization, then select a local honoree to nominate for state-level judging by Nov. 15, 2019.

Applications can be certified by a middle or high school principal or head of a Girl Scout council, county 4-H organization, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or a Points of Light Global Network member.