WASHINGTON D. C. (TIP): Six Indian American teenagers were among winners of the 23rd annual Prudential Spirit of Community Awards in Washington, DC, on April 30th.
The Indian Americans honored were Aditya Sidapara, who is a resident of Phoenix, AZ; Sivani Arvapalli, of South Windsor, CT; Vani Sharma, Fishers, IN; Anjali Chadha, Louisville, KY; Praneeth Alla, Exton, PA; and Shrey Pothini, 14, of Savage, MN.
In all, 100 top youth volunteers from across the country were honored at the event.
Each recipient received $1,000 in cash prize and personal congratulations from Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn.
The award ceremony and gala dinner reception was held the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
Sidapara, 18, a senior at BASIS Scottsdale, co-founded an educational initiative that is teaching computer coding to students living in four refugee camps in East Africa, aiming to lift them out of poverty and help meet the worldwide demand for skilled software engineers.
Arvapalli, 13, an eighth-grader at Timothy Edwards Middle School, was nominated by the Indian Valley Family YMCA. He volunteers with a group that has raised nearly $94,000 for child-focused charities by conducting talent shows and organizing benefit dinners and entertainment events.
Sharma, 11, a sixth-grader at Sand Creek Intermediate School, has been visiting the Ronald McDonald House at Riley’s Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis regularly for several years to prepare meals and entertain the families of hospitalized children. She also conducted a collection drive to provide books and toys to the kids at the facility.
Chadha, 15, a junior at duPont Manual High School, founded a nonprofit organization to educate and empower minority high school girls in the world of technology, and began her mission last summer by offering 10 girls a seven-week program of classroom training and real-world experience.
Praneeth Alla, 16, a junior at The Episcopal Academy, spent more than 1,500 hours creating a product for a nonprofit benefiting rural villages in India, improving its ability to collect and manage donations, publicize projects and track income and expenditures. He also founded a network of youth clubs to raise money to improve the education of children in India.
Pothini is an eighth-grader at Eagle Ridge Middle School. A community organizer, he has hosted a city-wide “day of service” for three years in a row.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).
Youth volunteers in grades 5-12 were invited to apply for 2018 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of Points of Light’s HandsOn Network. More than 29,000 middle level and high school students nationwide participated in this year’s program.