LAPS News:
The Los Alamos School Board has announced its selections for the 2014 Excellence for Student Achievement Award.
The theme for this year is “The Year of the Student.”
“Our selection for 2014 was to highlight the many good deeds done by our youth in service to their school, their fellow student body and in turn, their community,” said Bernadette Lauritzen, a member of the selection committee.
The committee selected four students from Los Alamos High School and an interesting twist to this year’s choices is that the committee chose to honor two student duos who are close friends and have worked closely together during the year, Lauritzen said.
“Our first selection is the duo of Faith Glasco and Elizabeth Hjelvik,” Lauritzen said. “These young ladies were instrumental in a school wide effort to promote kindness and empower youth to make a difference. They involved a variety of clubs and organizations, in which they acquired funds and worked to promote their efforts through the media. Their efforts included a wall of awesomeness, “carnations and compliments,” and a great guest speaker. They also included the middle school population in their outreach activities.”
The second duo is Justin Dunn and Soumyo Lahiri Gupta. The two are known “far and wide throughout the school, the community and quite possibly the world,” Lauritzen said. “Their volunteer abilities rival many adults and their stewardship to raise both awareness and financial resources to benefit others is admirable. It seems like one almost isn’t seen without the other, although Soumyo is seen every Friday bringing joy and green and gold cupcakes to brighten everyone’s day for no other reason than just pure joy.”
Lahiri Gupta took time on a family trip to India to find places to volunteer, Lauritzen said.
Dunn enjoys music, language and dance and finds time to play club soccer, while also being in National Honor Society and helping on the Los Alamos Public Schools Budget Committee, Lauritzen said.
“The future of our society looks bright because of these young people. Let us congratulate them all,” she said.
