The Brentwood Community Council presented Youth Citizen Awards to several students and one teacher for exemplifying leadership, innovation, dedication and courage.
Committee Chair Loretta Ditlow (who founded the award program ten years ago) along with members Bette Harris, Jackie Raymond and Nancy Babcock presented the following awards:
St Martin of Tours School, Junior High grades 6, 7 and 8
Several days during the year, students brought ingredients to school and made sandwiches in the school kitchen. The Director of Youth Ministry delivered the sandwiches to a local homeless shelter or food bank, feeding several hundred people during the year. Other projects included a monthly collection of non-perishables or school supplies. In November, the students provided Thanksgiving meals to the needy by collecting donations (bake sale, etc.) for turkeys, collecting food items and delivering the food to a charity. In another program, Penny Wars-Dollar Wars, students raised money to buy farm animals for families in Africa. They are also planning a garage sale to raise funds for charity. The award was accepted by student council President Jamie Daigle and VP Christopher Alexander.
Brentwood School
Senior Briana Monkarsh performed approximately 440 hours of community service. She tutored a special needs buddy each week at the Friendship Circle; tutored and mentored elementary school children at the Maple Counseling Center; served as president of the school’s Benefacta Board, which oversees the school’s service learning activities; organized the school’s involvement in Portraits of Hope’s life guard tower painting project; fed the hungry at local homeless shelters and helped raise $2,000 to purchase food and two shelters for ten for Haiti relief.
Senior Simon Brooks served on the Benefacta Board, overseeing service activities; coached children at Barrington Park; was captain of the varsity basketball team; a peer leader; Brentwood Theater Company member; packed and distributed food through One Voice and volunteered at Foster Camp over the summer.
Exceptional Teacher Award: Lisa Glick, Coordinator of Community Service Learning, Brentwood Lower School
For the past fourteen years, Glick has helped guide students to explore their community, identify problems and find meaningful ways of being of service.
Brentwood School, 6th Grade Class
Supervised by teacher Lisa Glick, 42 6th grade students funded and prepared food for the homeless shelter in Brentwood every week for the past year.
Archer School for Girls
Jennifer Hourani was an active member of Archer’s Community Service Board, which hosts an annual community service fair and holds weekly meetings to help students identify service projects. She is on the executive board of Green Youth Movement, which helps young children become environmentally aware. On a service trip to Fiji, Hourani helped build a footpath around one of the villages, taught English to local children and helped construct a school. For the past few years she has spent nearly every Sunday morning tutoring and mentoring children from the Hispanic Mission Program at St. Nicholas Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles, preparing a new lesson and fun art project for each visit.
Palisades Charter High School
Peter Atkinson, a senior at Palisades Charter High School, has volunteered hundreds of hours at Brentwood Green weeding, watering, and planting trees. He studies music at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, is a talented French horn player and has performed at many underserved schools and nursing homes. Through the Eagle Scouts, he helped with food drives for the needy and gave time to many other projects. His own Eagle Scout project will involve additional improvements to Brentwood Green including construction of potting benches and a trellised gateway in the farm garden. During summers in a small town in Maine Peter has volunteered at Opera House Arts – creating a box office website, ushering, selling tickets, marketing and advertising.
Senior Arianna Fisher worked at Camp Harmony with under-privileged youth for the past four years. She leads the Buddy Program, which mentors children with special needs.
Connor McGillivray, a senior, brings his youthful, enthusiastic energy to work with Camp Harmony students. As senior patrol leader of Boy Scout Troop 117 and an Eagle Scout, he designed, funded and built a bike shop for the Pacific Lodge Boys Home.
