Service Above Self Youth Awards

The Rowan Rotary Club and the Rowan County United Way recognized young people for their service to the community Thursday with the annual Service Above Self Youth Awards.

Individual awards this year went to Liberty Cozart, Jeffrey Stanton and Reed Fugle.

This is the 15th year for the awards, established by Dr. Jim Duncan in 1995. Based on the Rotary International motto of “Service Above Self,” they are made possible by Rotary, the United Way and an anonymous donor.

This year, organizers said 191 young people or groups were nominated for the awards, which honor students and groups at the elementary, middle and high school levels for their volunteer service.

Judges this year were Zack Kyle, human resources director for the city of Salisbury; Dr. Gwendolyn B. Peart, director of library services for Livingstone College; and Paul Russo, director of the W.G. (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center.

Student winners in each division receive a medal and a Visa gift card. They also receive a check in the amount of half their award for the school or organization that nominated them.

In each individual category, the first-place winner receives $250, first runner-up receives $100 and the second runner-up receives $50.

In the group categories, each first-place winner receives a $500 contribution to the organization, each first runner-up receives a $100 contribution and each second runner-up receives a $50 contribution.

Service Above Self awards this year went to:

K-5 individual

• Reed Fugle is this year’s winner.

Reed worked with his church camp creating Christmas shoe boxes for children. He also helped create care packages for soldiers. With the help of his family, he compiled snacks and goodies for new mothers and delivered them to the hospital. Reed also recently joined the Cub Scouts and participates in many of their volunteer efforts.

• Dylan Argueta is first runner-up.

Dylan is an active participant in his church’s community service. He prepares boxes for Operation Christmas Child, donates food to Rowan Helping Ministries, donates cans for the food drive and donates personal clothing and toys to Goodwill. He also helps on his family farm.

• Caleb Wagoner is second runner-up.

Caleb volunteers at Partners in Learning Child and Family Resource Center in his mother's classroom. He assists the special needs children with reading, learning centers and goes on field trips with them. He also volunteers with Meals on Wheels, where he helps sort and deliver meals, and he helps out at Rufty Holmes Senior Center with Tuesday bingo.

Middle school individual

• Jeffrey Stanton is this year’s winner.

Jeffrey started his own charity called “Jeffrey’s Toy Closet” when he was 8 years old after learning needy children in his autism class weren’t going to have any gifts for Christmas. Since then, he has provided gifts to more than 6,500 children who are either needy or ill. He recently donated more than 1,500 toys to Jeff Gordon’s Children’s Hospital and to other children with cancer. Jeffrey builds and maintains the website for his charity and does all of the fundraising. In March of this year, “Jeffrey’s Toy Closet” became a legal charity.

• Trevor Waller is first runner-up.

Trevor was instrumental in the design and construction of the “Post Office” building at Happy’s Farm, a nonprofit tutoring facility with a western theme. The post office has boxes for sponsors and donors. The building is now referred to as Trevor’s Post Office in recognition of the amount of labor and time Trevor donated.

• Joshua Simpson is second runner-up.

Josh is a four-year volunteer with the Rowan County Youth in Action Against Tobacco Council. In 2010, he has educated 4,700 youth on the harmful effects of tobacco use. He also coordinated the annual countywide tobacco-free quiz bowl competition and visited merchants to educate them on North Carolina tobacco sale laws.

High school individual

• Liberty Grace Cozart is this year’s winner.

Liberty has been involved in many service projects sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. As the 2009-10 honorary junior department president for North Carolina, she spent hundreds of hours raising money for her president’s project, Coins for Cards. She spoke to numerous churches, community organizations and school groups in an effort to solicit funds to purchase phone cards to send to enlisted American soldiers serving overseas. Liberty collected more than $3,700, making it possible for several hundred soldiers to reconnect with their loved ones back home. In addition, she participated in all American Legion Auxiliary service projects, which include collecting school supplies for children, assisting with a canned-food drive and collecting items for care packages for military units.

• April Honeycutt is first runner-up.

April has been a member of the West Rowan High School JROTC for the past three and a half years and has participated in numerous community service activities. Some of those include being a member of the Rowan County Police Program, participating in the Adopt-A-Veteran program at the N.C. State Veterans Nursing Home, being a member of the Teen Tobacco Free Program, helping with parking and stadium cleanups, participating in Coins for Cards and the Adopt-A-Highway program.

• Desmond Edward is second runner-up.

Desmond organized and conducted a Labor Meal for youth from low-income households where more than 125 people were served. He also helped clean downtown Salisbury store fronts and organized an Air Force JROTC can drive collection in which more than 700 cans of food were collected. Desmond also participated in four campus cleanups and presented colors at more than 50 events.

K-5 group

• The Overton Elementary Student Council, nominated by Elizabeth Sippel, is the winner.

This past year, the group conducted a blood drive for the American Red Cross where they served as greeters, performed clerical duties and stocked the canteen. They also held “real life” elections, supported Relay for Life, participated in the Salvation Army Canned Food Drive and made cards to be delivered through Meals on Wheels. They also collected teddy bears that were given to children and adults at the Hospice and Palliative Care Center.

• The Mount Ulla Elementary AIG Class is first runner-up.

This group sponsored an “Afternoon at the USO” event for Rowan veterans at the Rowan Museum. The class raised money to send three World War II veterans on the Flight of Honor. They also made a video of the trip for the veterans and hosted a Veterans Day celebration with breakfast and a program.

• The Morgan Elementary Student Council is second runner-up.

They raised more than $500 for Relay for Life, hosted a Red Cross blood drive and organized the Red Ribbon Week observance during which they provided stickers and treats with anti-drug themes. They also raised money for earthquake relief in Haiti, held a chicken and dumpling dinner with proceeds to benefit the school and presented gifts to teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week.

Middle school group

• The American Legion Auxiliary Unit No. 448 Junior Members, nominated by Gina Starnes, is the winner.

This year, the group collected coupons to send to an army base in Germany. They spent around 200 hours clipping, sorting, counting and packing $6,006 worth of coupons. They held their annual uniform drive for needy children in the community and collected 54 pairs of pants and 43 shirts. They sent care packages to soldiers serving overseas, collected cell phones for “Cell Phones for Soldiers” and collected can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House.

• The Corriher-Lipe Middle School Mix It Up Council is first runner-up.

A diverse group of students who strive to accept and respect one another while developing a tolerance for people of different races and cultures, the group’s volunteer service included organizing the Mix It Up at Lunch Day, a canned food drive and visiting Big Elm Nursing Home to play bingo with residents.

• The Corriher-Lipe Middle School Beta Club is second runner-up.

This group serves the school in the same capacity as a student council. Their activities included serving as guides and greeters for back-to-school orientations, creating teacher goody bags for American Education Week, bringing the Salvation Army Kettle to campus for a week and serving as the lead organization for school-wide Relay for Life activities.

High school group

• The West Rowan High JROTC, nominated by Lt. Col. Herman Peterson and Brittany Merritt, is the winner.

The group’s service projects include supporting a fellow cadet when his family’s home burned, volunteering for the Adopt-A-Veteran program, maintaining the Teen Tobacco Free Program at the school, helping to plant more than 1,000 flags at the VA, sponsoring the JROTC College Career Tour and presenting the flag at more than 23 various events. They also parked cars and buses and escorted athletes at the Special Olympics and assisted the Rowan County United Way with the Letter Carriers Food Drive sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service.

• The Youth in Action Against Tobacco Council is first runner-up.

This group has been trained to teach tobacco prevention education to the Rowan Salisbury middle and high school health classes. They are peer educators and tobacco prevention advocates. In 2010, they have educated 4,800 youths on the harmful effects of tobacco use.

• The East Rowan High JROTC is second runner-up.

This group supported veterans, East Rowan High and the community with color guards, parades and honor guards. Organizations served include Faith American Legion, the VA Hospital and the Holiday Caravan Parade. They also provided support to the school by cleaning the stadium for numerous events and facilitated training for school groups in high ropes, low ropes and rappel tower.

Service Above Self awards organizers also recognized Granite Quarry Elementary School, Corriher-Lipe Middle School and Salisbury High School for “presenting numerous quality nominations that were submitted in a timely manner.”

Each school received a check for $500.