Ganesh built a device to help visually impaired people.
AB Wire
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian American teenager Raghav Ganesh, 13, of San Jose, California, was named one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers of 2015 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards during the program’s 20th annual national award ceremony at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Selected from a field of more than 33,000 youth volunteers from across the country, Ganesh has earned the title of National Honoree, along with a personal award of $5,000, an engraved gold medallion, a crystal trophy for his school, and a $5,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation for a nonprofit charitable organization of his choice.
Also honored in Washington, D.C., was Kenzie Hall, 17, of Temecula. Kenzie and Ganesh were named California’s top youth volunteers in February, and were officially recognized at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History on May 4th, along with the top two youth volunteers in each other state and the District of Columbia.
At that event, each of the 102 State Honorees for 2015 received $1,000 awards as well as personal congratulations from “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts. The honorees each also received engraved silver medallions and all-expense-paid trips with a parent to Washington, D.C..
Ganesh, a seventh-grader at Joaquin Miller Middle School, designed and built a device that uses sensors to detect objects beyond the reach of the white canes used by many visually impaired people. He got the idea after watching a video about the challenges faced by those with limited or no eyesight.
“I saw how, despite being used for several centuries, the white cane does not provide users enough information about their environment,” he said. “I also saw why many high-tech alternatives are not meeting the needs of visually challenged folks.”
Because he enjoys science and electronics, and has become familiar with sensors and motors through a toy-building hobby, Ganesh decided to see if he could design something better. He built a small prototype and entered it in a local science fair. He then sought advice from the head of a local blind center, and over the next several months made five major revisions based on feedback from blind center staff and actual cane users. He ended up with a device that clamps onto the cane, uses ultrasonic and infrared sensors to detect obstacles more than six feet beyond the end of the cane, and communicates this information to the user through vibrations in the cane’s handle.
Ganesh secured a grant to make multiple copies, and hopes to create an open patent so that organizations for the blind around the world can make the device for their clients.
Kenzie, a junior at Great Oak High School, started a program at age 11 that grants several “wishes” each year to children who have had a parent killed or severely wounded while serving in the armed forces. When their father was deployed to Afghanistan, Kenzie and her sister were allowed to “live out a dream” for a year, “to give us something positive to focus on so we wouldn’t worry and have the stress of wondering if my dad was going to be okay,” said Kenzie. As much as she enjoyed her “dream” year of acting classes in Los Angeles, Kenzie kept thinking about other kids in Military families. “They needed to know the sacrifices they had made had not been forgotten, and that they were not alone,” she said.
That concern sparked Kenzie’s idea of granting wishes to children of fallen or wounded soldiers. Her first project was sending two sisters on a five-day trip to Disneyland after their father failed to return from his overseas deployment. Kenzie solicited donations from businesses, spoke at several events in LA, and asked friends and family members to help raise the necessary funds.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards is a national youth recognition program sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).
“As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, we are delighted to recognize the 2015 honorees for their exemplary volunteer service,” said John Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc., in a statement. “These young people have demonstrated leadership, compassion and perseverance, and we look forward to seeing all they accomplish in the future.”
“These honorees represent the best of what America’s youth have to offer,” said G.A. Buie, president of NASSP. “They have set a powerful example for their peers by proving that one young person really can make a difference, and it is a privilege to shine a spotlight on their good works.”
In addition to Ganesh, these are the other 2015 National Honorees:
Jake Gallin, 13, of New Rochelle, N.Y., a seventh-grader at Albert Leonard Middle School, founded an organization called “Stars for Cars” and has raised more than $12,000 for the United Service Organization (USO) by selling star-shaped magnetic car decals that honor families of soldiers who have served in the U.S. armed forces.
Carolina Gonzalez, 18, of Coral Gables, Fla., a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami, started a nonprofit organization that has helped more than 500 undocumented young immigrants apply for temporary residence and employment in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and has raised more than $22,000 to pay the application fees of those who cannot afford them.
Eric Li, 14, of Manvel, Texas, an eighth-grader at Pearland Junior High West, founded a nonprofit organization with his siblings that has collected nearly $200,000 in cash and in-kind donations to help children around the world recover from major disasters.
Arturo (AJ) Mattia, 15, of Turnersville, N.J., a freshman at Holy Cross Academy, survived bone cancer and a leg amputation to become a prominent champion for pediatric cancer awareness and fundraising.
Morlan Osgood, 16, of Loveland, Ohio, a junior at Loveland High School, co-founded an educational program that has helped more than 14,000 students in grades 2-12 develop their interest and skills in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) through summer camps, after-school classes, conference workshops and other activities.
Samantha Petersen, 18, of South Windsor, Conn., a home-schooled senior, founded a nonprofit organization that disseminates information about scoliosis, screens children in low-income communities for the disease, and offers emotional support to those undergoing corrective surgery.
Elizabeth Quesenberry, 17, of Wilmington, Del., a senior at Padua Academy High School, overcame a diagnosis of brain cancer to start a nonprofit organization that has raised $100,000 over the past six years to increase awareness of childhood cancer, help fund the search for a cure, and ease the financial pressure on families of young cancer patients.
Carter Ries, 14, of Fayetteville, Ga., an eighth-grader at Konos Academy, created a weeklong educational curriculum with his younger sister that is teaching kids about the importance of reducing plastic pollution.
Caleb White, 12, of Commerce Township, Mich., a seventh-grader at Clifford H. Smart Middle School, hands out boxes of food, toiletries and warm garments to the homeless on the streets of Detroit each year during the Christmas season, and last August threw a back-to-school party that provided 800 children in need with backpacks stuffed with new school supplies.
The distinguished selection committee that chose the National Honorees was chaired by Strangfeld and included Buie of NASSP; Andrea Bastiani Archibald, chief girl expert for Girl Scouts of the USA; Robert Bisi, senior public affairs manager for the Corporation for National and Community Service; Tracy Hoover, president of Points of Light; Reneé Jackson, senior manager of education programs at the National PTA; Maxine Margaritis, vice president of volunteer services for the American Red Cross; Delia Pompa, senior vice president for programs at the National Council of La Raza; Jennifer SIrangelo, president and CEO of the National 4-H Council; Dru Tomlin, director of middle level services for the Association for Middle Level Education; Kevin Washington, president and CEO of YMCA of the USA; and two 2014 National Honorees: Sean Egan of Staten Island, N.Y., a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, and Kinsey Morrison of Goshen, Ky., a freshman at Stanford University.
Youth volunteers in grades 5-12 were invited to apply for 2015 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of the HandsOn Network. More than 33,000 middle level and high school students nationwide participated in this year’s program.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program was created in 1995 to identify and recognize young people for outstanding volunteer service – and, in so doing, inspire others to volunteer, too, according to a press release. In the past 20 years, the program has honored more than 100,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level.