Outstanding Youth Awards Scholarship

R17-40 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS COUNTY OF YORK YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA Resolution At a regular meeting of the York County Board of Supervisors held in York Hall, Yorktown, Virginia, on the ____ day of __________, 2017: ______________________________________________________________________ Present Vote Sheila S. Noll, Chairman Jeffrey D. Wassmer, Vice Chairman Walter C. Zaremba W. Chad Green Thomas G. Shepperd, Jr. ______________________________________________________________________ On motion of __________, which carried ___, the following resolution was adopted: A RESOLUTION TO COMMEND AND CONGRATULATE YENNA CHU ON HER SELECTION AS THE 2017 YORK COUNTY OUT- STANDING YOUTH OF THE YEAR FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE WHEREAS, the York County Youth Commission and the Board of Supervisors established the Outstanding Youth of the Year Awards Program to recognize the ac- complishments and achievements of York County’s youth; and WHEREAS, Yenna Chu has been chosen by the Selection Committee to receive the 2017 Outstanding Youth of the Year Award for Community Service, which she ex- emplifies by consistently and caringly extending herself to help others; and WHEREAS, as a sophomore at Grafton High School, Yenna successfully man- ages a demanding schedule, earning highest academic honors, while participating in numerous extracurricular activities, including varsity swimming and tennis, and playing cello in the prestigious Bay Youth Symphony Orchestra; and WHEREAS, Yenna routinely makes the time to go out of her way to help others, as evidenced by her school service, serving as Freshman Class President last year and First Vice-President this year, and volunteering for Back-to-School Night, Homecoming Day, Teacher Appreciation Day, a midterm stress release project, holiday spirit week, fundraisers for students in need, and also by donating care packages to the Lackey Free Clinic through the SCA’s Make-A-Wish community service idea, and submitting a grant request from Grafton’s SCA for diabetic strips to the clinic; and WHEREAS, Yenna’s volunteer service is especially evident through her long- R17-40 Page 2 time work and heart for children with special needs, a love that her parents first saw in her during elementary school when she would enjoy reading books to special needs students in the school library, a bond she further pursued in middle school and high school as she volunteered to help teach swimming to a York County special needs swim team on Saturday afternoons, and also assisted at the Summer Games in Richmond; and WHEREAS, last year, Yenna’s desire to befriend and work with students with disabilities led her to organize several teams of volunteers to interact with these special needs students for 20-30 minutes every other day in the gym, playing wheelchair games, softball, bowling, and other activities, to the enjoyment of the students and the student volunteers, and so exceeded expectations that the program has continued this year as well; and WHEREAS, at the beginning of this school year, Yenna and some of her friends organized a Special Olympics Club at Grafton, which now includes over 150 active members, thanks in large part to Yenna’s initiative and leadership as club President; and WHEREAS, this fledgling club has performed a remarkable number of volunteer initiatives this year, including: providing “bus buddies” to meet special needs students at their buses in the morning and wheel them into their classroom; preparing morning announcements to raise awareness about inclusion, acceptance, respect and unity; plan- ning a special holiday party for students with disabilities at Grafton Middle School; providing 50 volunteers for the School Division’s special needs Family Fun Night program at the YMCA; staffing volunteers for many other Special Olympic events and fundraisers including a local bowling event, a Field Day held at Ft. Eustis, the annual Polar Plunge in Virginia Beach, and an upcoming state event this June in Richmond; and, raising funds for Special Olympics Virginia totaling over $1,400; and WHEREAS, Yenna’s dedication is fueled by how fulfilled she feels when working with special needs children and that she wants others to be able to experience this same joy through interacting with and serving these children; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the York County Board of Super- visors on this _____ day of _______, 2017, that Yenna Chu be, and she is hereby, con- gratulated and commended by the York County Board of Supervisors as York County’s 2017 Outstanding Youth of the Year for Community Service. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Yenna Chu be publicly recognized as a most worthy recipient of the Outstanding Youth Award for Community Service, that she be extended the sincere admiration and appreciation of the Board of Supervisors for her exemplary volunteerism, and that she take courage from the fact that the world is indeed a better place because of her efforts to befriend and help those with special needs and challenges and the inspiration she has given many others to do likewise. R17-41 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS COUNTY OF YORK YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA Resolution At a regular meeting of the York County Board of Supervisors held in York Hall, Yorktown, Virginia, on the ____ day of __________, 2017: ______________________________________________________________________ Present Vote Sheila S. Noll, Chairman Jeffrey D. Wassmer, Vice Chairman Walter C. Zaremba W. Chad Green Thomas G. Shepperd, Jr. ______________________________________________________________________ On motion of __________, which carried ___, the following resolution was adopted: A RESOLUTION TO COMMEND AND CONGRATULATE ELISE HICKS ON HER SELECTION AS THE 2017 YORK COUNTY OUT- STANDING YOUTH OF THE YEAR FOR COMPASSION WHEREAS, the York County Youth Commission and the Board of Supervisors established the Outstanding Youth of the Year Awards Program to recognize the ac- complishments and achievements of York County’s youth; and WHEREAS, Elise Hicks has been chosen by the Selection Committee to receive the 2017 Outstanding Youth of the Year Award for Compassion, a quality she exempli- fies through consistently and caringly extending herself to help others; and WHEREAS, as a senior at York High School, Elise takes a demanding academic load with advanced placement and other weighted courses, also attending the School of the Arts, and earning membership into the National and Spanish Honor Societies; and WHEREAS, in spite of her busy schedule, Elise always makes time for others, demonstrating a genuine heart of compassion, especially for those less fortunate or for those facing particular challenges, such as the care she shows serving in the children’s ministry on Sundays and also during her interactions with other teens at twice weekly youth meetings, where she seems to sense whenever someone is discouraged or anxious about a particular problem in their life, is touched by their pain, and will ask if they would like to talk about it, often resulting in Elise selflessly taking the time to caringly listen to the person and offer them encouragement and support; and R17-41 Page 2 WHEREAS, for the past several years Elise has spent the third Friday night and Saturday morning of every month actively involved in the church’s local food pantry ministry, typically arriving at the church at 6 p.m. that Friday and working until 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., helping to pack 400-600 grocery bags with USDA and donated bread, vege- tables, canned goods, and other food and paper items, and then returns to the church early Saturday morning until about 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon for the food distribution that helps support over 200 families in need; and WHEREAS, this past November, Elise had the idea of giving clothes away left over from a previous outreach ministry along with monthly food distribution, and en- listed some of her girlfriends to help organize the items, a project so successful that they decided to do it again during December’s food distribution, which resulted in many un- expected clothing donations, leaving Elise determined to design and facilitate a clothing distribution every month alongside the food distribution, which has resulted in an out- pouring of donated clothing items supporting hundreds of people with essentials such as coats for the homeless, children’s school clothes, and comfortable shoes for shift work- ers, and has caused her and several others to stay as late as 10:00 or 11 p.m. on Friday pre-distribution nights to prepare, which has prompted her to train two girls to head up the distribution so it can seamlessly continue after she leaves for college this fall; and WHEREAS, another example of Elise’s compassion is during a yearly church outreach in Honduras, where she has been impacted by the dire needs and poverty there, and where she can be seen, usually at the head of a visiting group, walking unhesitating- ly, into a home for orphaned boys with special needs or into a shanty town where many men might be timid to go, making eye contact with one of the young children and em- bracing them, carrying them for hours so they could feel loved; and WHEREAS, Elise’s faith and compassion are stirring a life calling she is preparing for, as God has so captured her heart for the children in Honduras that ever since her first visit she has dedicated herself to learning conversational Spanish, and will attend Liberty University this fall to study Family and Childhood Development while minor- ing in Spanish, with the goal of returning to Honduras as a full-time missionary since she considers the human suffering and the need to serve there greater than anything that could hold her here; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the York County Board of Super- visors on this _____ day of _______, 2017, that Elise Hicks be, and she is hereby, con- gratulated and commended by the York County Board of Supervisors as York County’s 2017 Outstanding Youth of the Year for Compassion.

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