Students at Goodrich High School are being recognized for their efforts in community service.
Andi Trubiano, a GHS senior, was recently awarded the Robert E. Weiss Outstanding Youth Award for her work in community service on Feb. 10 at the Priority Children Children’s Champion Award Breakfast. The award is for a high school student (grades 9-12) who has done something special to help make Genesee County a better community for children. Robert E. Weiss, a former Genesee County prosecutor and MSU trustee, died in 2009.
For Trubiano, community service activities have spanned from working with children with special needs to Girl Scouts activities to working on events to raise awareness for diabetes.
‘I have participated in coordinating the Special Needs Fishing Derby and Family Fun Day for the past six years, as well as volunteering as a counselor-in-training for children with juvenile diabetes for two weeks at Camp Midicha,? said Trubiano of her volunteer work. She has also worked as a junior counselor for children with high functioning autism at POWER (Peer Outreach With Extraordinary Results) Camp in addition to the several activities through the National Honor Society and Girl Scouts.
Trubiano estimates that she’s volunteered around 300 hours of her time from doing the Special Needs Fishing Derby and Family Fun Day, as well as three weeks of volunteering at Camp Midicha and POWER Camp, which is through Camp Copneconic in Fenton.
Senior Krystal Perry and junior Morgan Cinader were among several other GHS students also nominated for the award. Perry, who has accumulated around 110 service hours and volunteers for Project SKIP in Goodrich Area Schools, said, ‘I think it’s really important for children to feel like they’re in a safe and nuturing community,? on why she volunteers. Cinader, who has 250 service hours, volunteers at her church and also is a mentor and tutor in the community, said, ‘I love being someone that kids can look up to-that’s why I do it.?
The Robert E. Weiss Outstanding Youth Award wasn’t the only award for community service that Trubiano has received. She was also awarded the Presidential Volunteer Service Award and the Prudential Spirit of Community Finalist Medal for assisting the disabled.
Trubiano said that the Special Needs Fishing Derby, which she created at age 10, was created so that ‘kids with special needs who are not normally invited to social events could have a day of their own to be themselves and have a day of fun with their families.?
Trubiano’s favorite community service activity has been volunteering at Camp Midicha and POWER Camp during the 2011 summer.
‘I loved the experience this past summer more than I ever imagined,? she said.