News Releases
Plum Grove Student Receives Volunteer Honor
Kelly Voigt, 12, a seventh-grade student at Plum Grove Junior High School, was named one of two youth volunteers in the state to receive the Prudential Spirit of Community Award for 2005. The nationwide program honors young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. One middle level and one high school youth are recognized from each state.
Kelly was selected for her activism in teaching other children how to avoid being bitten by a dog. A dog attack at age 7 left Kelly with more than 100 stitches on her face and throat. Seeking to find a positive way to overcome the trauma and depression that followed, Kelly’s mother worked with her to create a presentation that would help other children protect themselves, which Kelly first delivered at her school, Pleasant Hill in Palatine. Since then, she has spoken at other schools, libraries and Humane Society and American Kennel Club locations, appeared on "The Today Show" and been guest speaker in Washington, D.C., for National Dog Bite Prevention Week. Kelly also founded a nonprofit organization to help get her message out.
More than 20,000 middle level and high school students were nominated for this year’s Spirit of Community Awards. Kelly was nominated by Plum Grove Junior High. As a state honoree, she will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion and a trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where she will join other honorees for a gala awards ceremony. Ten of the young people - five middle level and five high school students - will be named America’s top youth volunteers for 2005.
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