Almaden Resident
Education
Pioneer High recognized as leader for community volunteer service
By Anne Gelhaus
Thanks to the community service efforts of 22 students, Pioneer High School was named a National Leader School for Service Learning.
The students, who each performed at least 100 hours of community service within 12 months, received the President's Volunteer Service Award at an Oct. 30 ceremony.
Pioneer students who went for the gold award with 250 or more community-service hours are:
Elizabeth Cambra, junior--250 hours working for Happy Hollow Park by caring for animals and educating the public.
Travis Carpenter, senior--261 hours helping landscape, garden and clean at a nonprofit.
Lauren Ellis, junior--460 hours providing foster care for kittens through Safe Haven Animal Shelter.
Michelle Mlnarik, junior--318 hours raising and training a guide dog for Guide Dogs for the Blind and Pawsabilities.
Mary Sheridan, junior--262 hours working for Happy Hollow Park by caring for animals and educating the public, and volunteering at Good Samaritan Hospital.
Silver award-winners, with 175-249 hours, are:
Amber Haywood, freshman--230 hours assisting and coordinating children's activities at a camp.
Sophia Karapetian, senior--188 hours working throughout the year with Gary Lang as a Pioneer athletic trainer and managing the girl's basketball team.
John Kim, junior--188 hours working throughout the year with Gary Lang as a Pioneer athletic trainer.
Stephanie Levins, junior--178 hours training younger students to volunteer at a preschool in the Summer of Service program, participating in the Relay for Life, and volunteering with the AIDS Walk.
Kelly Low, senior--185 hours working as a exhibit explainer at the Tech Museum of Innovation and helping coach a youth basketball squad through CYS Basketball.
Tiani Small, junior--177 hours building a school for the poor in the Dominican Republic through the Visions program and working in the YMCA Youth & Government program.
Earning a bronze award for 100-174 hours are:
Danielle Dunio, junior--110 hours volunteering at the YMCA working children's camps, helped South San Jose Softball run clinics, and presented through the Counseling Leadership Against Smoking Pressures program.
Conrad Egan, sophomore--107 hours working as a summer camp junior leader for a variety of environmental nonprofits, also helped do summer reading displays and bagging food for the homeless.
Minh Hoang, junior--100 hours working at Solari Community Center supervising children and with the Pioneer Environmental Club doing campus recycling.
Katrina Huyn, senior--100 hours volunteering at Sacred Heart Community Center, helping with food and clothing donations.
Pardis Khosravi, junior--136 hours participating as the District 10 youth commissioner for the City of San Jose, volunteering at the American Cancer Society, and making presentations for the Counseling Leadership Against Smoking Pressures program.
Joseph Manning, junior--105 hours helping coach a youth hockey team through Roll'in Ice.
Anthony Nguyen, junior--101 hours volunteering at St. Lucy's as a teacher's assistant, training with the YMCA through the Y-Achievers program and volunteering at Kaiser by helping patients.
Ivonne Palma, junior--121 hours helping students through the Summer Engineers Academy and teaching BioSITE.
Julia Setnicker, senior--100 hours working with the Bill Wilson Center at "Safe Haven" events, helping the U.S. Geological Survey with research tasks and volunteering with the San Jose Leadership Academy.
Sarah Skipwith, junior--109 hours performing a wide variety of service through the City Year, City Heroes program.
Kathleen Sumpter, junior--100 hours volunteering through the National Art Honor Society on a variety of projects.
