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Two 'Students in Action' teams take home gold banners at Jefferson Awards
(4/23/15) Blaine and Champlin Park High School youth service groups participating in the Students in Action program earned second and fourth place April 18 at the state service competition, The Jefferson Awards. The two Anoka-Hennepin Schools youth service teams competed against nine other teams in the state of Minnesota and each brought home a "gold banner" award. This was the first year that each team had competed.
The Blaine High School team, which placed second, reported on their work with Hope for Youth, Feed My Starving Children and a recent BASH campaign. The team from Champlin Park High School earned fourth place after highlighting a coin drive, trips to Feed My Starving Children and the Valentine Grams campaign at their school.
Students in Action is a Jefferson Award program which aims to empower high school students to think big, choose their service passion, engage their entire school and broader communities, and create an impact. The youth service programs chose to participate in the Jefferson Awards as an additional way to inspire the students to positively impact their schools, communities and the world. The Blaine and Champlin Park High School teams competed against nine other schools in the state of Minnesota.
The Jefferson Awards competition is open to any school interested in participating. Students were required to highlight three projects and explain what they learned about leadership, engagement, impact, and involvement through each project. The teams shared details regarding the projects that they have completed over the past year and explained how each project impacted the community. An oral presentation gave students the opportunity to demonstrate leadership and speaking skills, while the written portion of the competition pushed the students to evaluate the work done and its impact on the community.
Photo, left: Amera Hassan, Dylan Kassela, Pachia Xiong, Hana Tadesse, and Sophia Kassela earned a gold banner award and second place representing Blaine High School at the Jefferson Awards.
Photo, right: Champlin Park High School students Aaron Kilyun, Jennifer Merel, Leo Lee, Hawwanii Ganti, Te-girl Kekpoh, Jane Gbanjah and (not pictured) Hadja Kann placed fourth and earned a gold banner at the Jefferson Awards April 18.
Photo, right: Champlin Park High School students Aaron Kilyun, Jennifer Merel, Leo Lee, Hawwanii Ganti, Te-girl Kekpoh, Jane Gbanjah and (not pictured) Hadja Kann placed fourth and earned a gold banner at the Jefferson Awards April 18.