Students’ volunteerism earns national awards

Cierra Nakamura, 18, of Honolulu and Emma Tandara, 14, of Ewa Beach have been named Hawaii’s top two youth volunteers of 2017 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism.

The two volunteers each will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion and an all-expenses-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for four days of national recognition events. During the trip, 10 students will be named America’s top youth volunteers of 2017.

Nakamura, a senior at ‘Iolani School, collects donated toothbrushes, toothpaste and packages of dental floss for impoverished families in underdeveloped Asia-Pacific countries through a campaign she calls “Spreading Smiles Across Miles.”

Tandara, an eighth-grader at Ewa Makai Middle School, led an effort at her school to promote recycling of bottles, cans, paper products and old T-shirts.

Two other Hawaii students were chosen as distinguished finalists for their community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion.

Lisa Kam, 17, of Honolulu, a senior at Maryknoll School, created “Family Oriented Cultural Understanding Study (FOCUS),” drawing teens and their parents to a series of genealogy workshops to help trace their Chinese roots.

Evan Liu, 16, of Honolulu, a junior at Punahou School, has compiled a varied volunteer portfolio, including keeping patients company at Kuakini Medical Center, serving as a teacher’s assistant and translator at the International Hospitality Center, and working with friends to raise $1,000 for cleft lip surgeries through Smile Train.