Youth of the Month Award recipents for 2010

January: Raynisha Thompson

Raynisha and her family moved here after hurricane Katrina destroyed her home. Prior to the hurricane, she admits to making some bad decisions and hanging out with the wrong crowd.  Ready to move her life into a positive direction, Raynisha saw her family’s relocation to Sacramento as an opportunity to turn her life around. She serves as Student Advisory Council representative, Class secretary, Student representative for the District Safety committee, and representative to the Superintendent for Hiram Johnson High School.  She carries a 3.7 grade point average, and helps to plan events at the school that serve her community

February: Gabriella Munoz

Gaby currently volunteers for the Friends for the Future Peer Mentoring Program, where she tutors students at Cesar Chavez Elementary School. She also is part of Teen C.E.R.T (Community Emergency Response Team), receiving training to become a youth emergency responder. Gaby volunteers as an intern for the District Attorney’s office as well.  On top of these responsibilities, she also helps support her family by assisting her mother with work in the custodial business during evenings.  She maintains excellent grades and is on the honor roll at Luther Burbank High School.

March: Mattew Puliz

At age 16, through a broad range of service projects, Matthew has contributed over 770 hours toward community service! Matthew has labored toward diverse projects; from landscape beautification for woman who was unable to maintain upkeep of her yard, to stocking and sorting non-perishables at a local food locker. Each year, he goes to the San Francisco Rescue Mission to help the homeless, and recruits new friends to join him in this volunteer service. He is also a Jr. Assistant Scoutmaster with the Eagle scouts, the highest leadership rank a youth can hold. He assists with leadership development in younger scouts and also designs & maintains the troop website. Matthew maintains a 3.3 G.P.A. and participates in soccer, cross country, track and theater tech crew.

April: Michael Chandon

Michael is a young man who is very involved on campus and in his community. A junior at Encina High School, Michael has received the Principal’s award, perfect attendance recognition, and placed in the regional Rotary Speech Contest. He overcame many hardships dealing with a caretaker's substance abuse problems. He now serves as a peer mentor to talk with younger students about drug and alcohol abuse. He also serves on student government, played football and carries a 3.5 G.P.A. Michael participated in Relay for Life, community clean-up projects, and is currently helping fundraise for the upcoming Walk N’ Rock charity event.