Maureen M. Mahon
Sunset Hills, MO
Cor Jesu Academy
Graduation Year: 2010

Maureen was diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy when she was in the 7th grade. She immediately learned first-hand how much stigma and lack of awareness there is about epilepsy, and found there weren’t resources available to teenagers with epilepsy in her area. Working with the educator at the St. Louis Epilepsy Foundation, she became a charter and founding member of the St. Louis Epilepsy Foundation Youth Council, the first local Youth Council in the US. Its primary goal is to educate others about epilepsy and help young people with the diagnosis be more involved in school and community; they also advocate on the state and local level, for pharmacologic coverage and other issues.

Kelsey Rafols
Lutz, FL
Academy of the Holy Names
Graduation Year: 2010

Kelsey and her sister developed and implemented the Clothes Closet Project at Alpha House of Tampa, a home for unwed mothers. They cleaned up a dingy old room to “create a clothes closet with a boutique feel” for the residents. They painted the walls, finished the floors, installed shelving, and sorted gently used clothing by size and style so the mothers could find what they needed for themselves and their children. “The end result . . . was a beautiful room . . . [where]current and future residents . . . [can] go and get whatever items they need to make their stay at Alpha House . . . more enjoyable and feel . . . they are special . . . no matter what [their current] situation. . . .”

David S. Sanchez
Racine, WI
The Prairie School
Graduation Year: 2010

David founded the Job-Link Racine program in September 2008 to help homeless high school students find part-time jobs. Job-Link Racine gives these students the opportunity to earn extra money, learn valuable job skills, and help their families become self-sufficient. Students receive job readiness workshops, travel money to get to interviews, and appropriate clothing items as necessary. David uses grant money to underwrite some of the costs involved in running the program and gets local support by approaching community groups, organizations, and local businesses.

Tyler Buysse
Ramsey, NJ
Ramsey High School
Graduation Year: 2011

Tyler noticed that house numbers were not consistently displayed in his town, which created a problem for emergency services trying to find a location at a time when every second counts. To solve this problem, he coordinated an effort to paint each home’s number on its front curb. It took over 40 volunteers more than 300 hours to paint house numbers on the curbs of 518 homes. Christopher C. Botta, Mayor of Ramsey, said: “. . . this important project, and the high quality of the completed work, have greatly improved the emergency response time for many who need assistance . . . .”

Sachin Rudraraju
Powell, OH
Olentangy Liberty High School
Graduation Year: 2012

Sachin started the Community Recycling Campaign to reduce the amount of eWaste that is landfilled. He is an ardent supporter of recycling because it makes a positive contribution to the global conservation of energy. Though recycling programs are available in many cities, there is always a gap to cross in teaching the public how to best use them. He founded his community recycling campaign to make it easier for people to recycle. He collects used electronic items, such as computers, refurbishes them with parent volunteers’ help, and donates all working items to a local children’s hospital. His group also collects old clothes which they donate to charity. www.communityrecyclingcampaign.ning.com/video