Service Star Awards for 1998-99
Allegany County
Christina coordinated the Homeless Sleep-Out Program at her school, and she is currently working with the March of Dimes Walk-America. She is also working with a group to remodel a clothing voucher store for the mentally ill. Christina's drive and dedication to help others has been an inspiration to the community.
Mandy McAteer, Beall High School, 12th Grade
Mandy organized, planned, and implemented projects which benefited her entire school and the community of Allegany County. These activities included coordinating activities for the March of Dimes Walk-America, food drives for the hungry and homeless, and most recently, she organized a very successful junior high school dance to raise money for a student injured in a serious car accident.
Anne Arundel County
Ashley is very involved with community and school service-learning activities. She is a person who strives to help others and often initiates service activities.
Beth Gregg, North County High School, 11th Grade
Beth is very committed to service-learning. She is the type of individual that makes time to help others. Beth also encourages others to participate in service-learning projects that benefit her school and the community.
Baltimore City
Jimmy serves as an officer and active member of several service oriented organizations in his school and community. He has earned over 800 service-learning hours working with his peers, the elderly, and younger children through activities that include clothing and food drives, tutoring and mentoring.
Martine C. Morris, Western High School, 12th Grade
Martine has engaged in a variety of projects to nurture her community and the environment. Her ongoing commitments include food and clothing drives and other initiatives through her church, Habitat for Humanity projects, community recycling, and involvement in her school's Sign Language Club.
Baltimore County
Matthew designed and constructed custom stairs to be used by spinal cord patients and their therapists at the orthopedic gym at Kernan Hospital. Matthew solicited financial contributions from local businesses, designed and built the stairs, and wrote thank-you letters to all contributors.
Benjamin Jaffe, Pikesville High School, 12th Grade
Ben volunteers at Camp Milldale and Paul's Place, a center that encourages inner-city children to play with both their peers and the volunteers. Additionally, for the past two years, Ben has been a volunteer at Baltimore's largest soup kitchen, Our Daily Bread, where he helps to serve the homeless community.
Calvert County
Shanna works as a volunteer with Operation Happy Face, an organization that provides gifts for underprivileged children at Christmas time. She puts together personal hygiene packages and baby gift sets. She also cleans and inspects toys and helps parents choose gifts for their children.
Caroline County
Amy is highly involved in Center Stage, a non-profit performing arts group that tours the Delmarva Peninsula providing drama entertainment to schools, hospitals, senior citizens homes, and others. She is also involved with the Delaware Ballet, a non-profit performing group that provides dance instruction and ballet productions to hospitals, senior citizens, and schools.
Carroll County
Carrie is the president of the Key Club and coordinated the Necessities for Life Project at North Carroll High School. She received her service-learning experience through various activities such as the Girls Scouts of America and Jump-Rope-for-Heart. She also served as a Camp Counselor with the Special Olympics and is a National Merit Finalist.
Chris McDonald, South Carroll High School, 12th Grade
Chris volunteered at a day care center working with 4 to 6 year old children. As part of his Eagle Scout project, he organized and implemented a project to build and place 12 park benches in Piney Run Park. In addition, he has worked on numerous Eagle Scout projects to help fellow troop members serve their communities while reaching for their scout goals.
Cecil County
Ashlee is committed to helping others in her school and community. She has participated in a host of service-learning activities including tutoring 2nd grade elementary school students and assisting with the duties of her school's Guidance Department.
Matt Smirniotis, Bohemia Manor High School, 12th Grade
Matt trains dogs for Therapy Dogs Intl. and the Delta Society. He also spends time visiting local nursing homes providing pet therapy. Matt raised a puppy for Independence Days, Inc. to be used to help a person with a disability have more independence.
Charles County
Kristopher worked with Operation Undercover, a food drive partnership that distributed 65,000 lbs. of food to 25 Washington area families. For this project, Kristopher had the opportunity to work with many organizations such as the Fraternal Order of Police and the U.S. State Department's Office of the Inspector General.
Sarah Austin, Westlake High School, 11th Grade
Sarah founded the Teen Volunteer Program for the Charles County Hospice and helped train 20 Westlake students for this program. During her freshman year, Sarah was awarded the Student Service-Learning Project of the Year and, during her sophomore year, she received the J.C. Penny Golden Globe Award.
Dorchester County
Rachel helped build a playground at Sandy Hill Elementary School. She also participated in the planning and building of Safety Town, a miniature town that teaches safety to elementary school children for the Interact Club. Her accomplishments this year include working with the Oyster Recovery Program and working on the Aids Quilt for student council.
Matt Zeller, North Dorchester High School, 12th Grade
Matt has served as Key Club president for the past two years. He has spent countless hours both coordinating and participating in community service projects. The scope of his service-learning activities range from babysitting at local elementary schools to distributing food at the Share Baltimore Warehouse.
Frederick County
Natalie represents her high school on the Frederick County Service-Learning Advisory Board. In this role, Natalie serves meals at the Frederick Rescue Mission and has also served as a workshop presenter at the MSSA Annual Service-Learning Conference.
Catherine Funsch, Governor Thomas Johnson High School, 12th Grade
Catherine has been active in the community through the Frederick Memorial Hospital, the National Cancer Research Center, numerous school organizations, and her involvement with her church.
Garrett County
Sara has participated in many fundraiser activities with local organizations such as the Grantsville 4-H Club and the Rotary Club. She has also volunteered with the World Attic, a local organization that assists victims of natural disasters living in third world countries.
Keri A. Strubin, Southern Garrett High School, 12th Grade
Keri's participation with her area youth ministry has allowed her to give back to her community by helping to paint and design two billboards. She participated in five plays as part of a community awareness project. The plays presented information on domestic violence, child abuse, drugs, and alcohol.
Harford County
Melissa's concern for the needy led her to convince her high school's chapter of Amnesty International to adopt a family for Christmas. As president of this chapter, Melissa organized fundraisers for her school and solicited donations from local businesses.
Rebecca Renner, C. Milton Wright High School, 12th Grade
Becky is a team leader for the service-learning project in her French IV class. They adopted a classroom of children in Haiti and wrote pen pal letters. They also purchased and sent classroom supplies and materials. In addition, Becky also teaches French to elementary students for 30-minutes each week.
Howard County
A National Honor Society member since the eleventh grade, Josh takes his duties seriously as a tutor volunteer with students that are experiencing academic challenges. Josh volunteers at a local hospital and has earned more than 300 hours of service in that capacity.
Rachel Lax, Wilde Lake High School, 12th Grade
Rachel started Students Tutoring Students during her sophomore year. She created the entire program by first presenting it to Wilde Lake Middle School's administrators; she then identified tutors for specific subjects, and attended to all logistics for this program. The program is now in its third year.
Kent County
Ty is a person who does whatever he can to help others. As a tutor, he actively seeks ways to serve his peers and younger students. He is also very involved with local organizations such as the League of Women Voters.
Eric VanSant, Kent County High School, 12th Grade
Eric is the type of individual who makes time to help others. All one has to do is ask and he is willing to do whatever he can. Eric tutors students at his school and he often encourages others to participate in service projects as well.
Montgomery County
Andrew has participated as a docent with the Holocaust Memorial in Washington, D.C., earning more than 1,000 hours. In this capacity, Andrew has been able to educate others about the history and the impact of the Holocaust.
Kristen Caha, Sherwood High School, 12th Grade
Kristen enjoys working with mentally and physically challenged children. She volunteers with Project Discovery and Creative Carousel. Kristen has also received the 1998 Clara Barton Award for Women's Achievement and the Outstanding Service Award from the Olney Chamber of Commerce.
Prince George's County
Kyle volunteers at the Clinton Volunteer Fire Department, located in Clinton, Maryland. He has received volunteer training in firefighting, C.P.R., hazardous materials, and Emergency Medical Training. While continuing his service to the community, Kyle maintains an honor roll average.
Kinjal Patel, High Point High School, 12th Grade
Kinjal has been a pro-active contributor to service-learning. As President of the Service-Learning Club, which she established, Kinjal directs group visits to nursing homes and to schools that serve children with special needs. She organized the school's service-learning fair and facilitated the creation of service-learning posters.
Queen Anne's County
RaMeicha has been a Youth RISE Club intern for four years. Her organizational skills, her creativity with flyers and newsletters, and her dependability have been relied upon numerous times. RaMeicha has also mentored emotionally troubled young women, and tutored and mentored younger students in reading and math.
Katie Lipsner, Kent Island High School, 12th Grade
Katie has been involved with a Homeless Project since the 6th grade. She planned cookie bakes, clothing collections, personal items drives, and dances to help the homeless in Washington, D.C., and in her county. Katie has also developed proposals and made presentations on behalf of service-learning.
St. Mary's County
Chad serves as the student member of the Board of Education of St. Mary's County. He is also a member of the St. Mary's County Association of Student Councils and the Model General Assembly/Model Congress/Model United Nations Organizational Committee. Currently, he is a student page for the Maryland General Assembly.
Sinead Kayser, Great Mills High School, 12th Grade
Sinead is a Girl Scout leader in her community and has achieved the Gold Award in scouting. She is a reading tutor at Green Holly School and also participates in school activities such as cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field activities.
Somerset County
Latrice has spent many hours assisting local organizations within her community. She bagged groceries for needy families at the Seton Center and worked at the media center at Westover Elementary School reading stories to elementary school students.
Talbot County
Shelley has worked in a number of areas to provide service to her community. She assisted a Girl Scout leader by helping with crafts and attending camping trips. Shelley also participated in the Christmas in St. Michaels project by staffing a craft stand which helped children wrap Christmas presents for their parents.
Amanda Kaye Brown, Easton High School, 12th Grade
Amanda has spent more than 500 hours in a variety of service-learning projects. She worked with young children as a peer mediator and tutor and developed activities to serve the elderly and disadvantaged. Amanda also participated in numerous 4-H service projects and served as a student representative with the Talbot County Board of Education.
Washington County
Laura is the student senate president for her school. Along with this honor, she is the student representative of the School Improvement Team. The majority of Laura's service-learning hours were earned as she participated in reenactments of the American Revolutionary War.
Wicomico County
Julian has been involved in curriculum driven service projects such as the annual Hunger Banquet, a student sponsored event that raises awareness to world hunger. Because of his continual dedication to service, Julian was recently nominated by his principal for the Toyota Community Scholarship.
Jessica M. Hauck-Townsend, Parkside High School, 12th Grade
Jessica coordinated Parkside High School's participation in the Youth Service Day in preparation for Salisbury's Promise: An Alliance for Youth Community Summit. Jessica chaired the student planning committee which involved more than one hundred students in beautification projects for the Ward Foundation Museum and the Schumaker Park playground and picnic areas.
Worcester County
Olivia participated in the planning, fund raising and repair of homes in Appalachia. She spent time during the summer of 1998 to travel to Appalachia to improve the living conditions of the needy. In addition, she spent hours making Easter eggs, selling plants, and helping prepare chicken dinners to raise money for the repair mission.
Rachel Scher, Pocomoke High School, 12th Grade
Rachel is involved in athletics and still finds time to serve her community. In the fall of 1998, she coordinated Pocomoke's "Make A Difference Day" which involved 35 of her classmates in this national day of service. Rachel also serves as the only student on the Board of Directors of the Samaritan House, a local shelter for the homeless.
Return to the main Service Stars page to see award recipients for other school years.