Ann Arbor Huron High School senior Andy Hsiao is a Distinguished Finalist for Michigan in the 2014 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Hsiao was presented with an engraved bronze medallion for the honor this morning.
Hsiao raised nearly $6,000 through T-shirt sales and a benefit concert for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Since then, he founded Youth Impact, a club that helps to raise money and awareness for charitable organizations with events and projects that are created and implemented by young people.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), represent the United States’ largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service. All middle and high schools in the U.S., along with all Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award last November. Two State Honorees—one middle and one high school student—plus a select number of Distinguished Finalists from each state and the District of Columbia were selected based on criteria such as personal initiative, effort, impact and personal growth.
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— Andrew Cluley is the Ann Arbor beat reporter, and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him acluley@emich.edu.