Rotarian Vincent Chiravalle, second from left, presents a Distinguished Student of Service certificate to LAHS junior Gyasi Atta-Fynn, on behalf of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos as his mother Autumn Atta-Fynn shares the moment with LAHS teacher Jon Frost, May 20, at the United Church of Los Alamos. Photo by Tacarra Lake.
By VINCENT CHIRAVALLE
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
On May 20 the Rotary Club of Los Alamos presented Gyasi Atta-Fynn, a Los Alamos High School junior with a Distinguished Student of Service award. Gyasi is indeed one who has made service part of his life and he is a well-rounded student. Gyasi is a member of the National Honor Society, and the Key Club, where he recorded 109 service hours over three years and is currently the club’s vice president elect. In addition, Gyasi is also a member of the Rotary Interact Club, where he recorded 40 service hours over three years and served as the club’s publicist during his sophomore year. Gyasi is a tenor section leader in the LAPS choir and was part of the statewide winning Schola Cantorum this year.
Gyasi is also part of the Olions high school theater group and has participated in productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Pippin,” and Disney’s “Frozen.” He is also the student director/representative on the Board of Directors of the LAPS Foundation.
In his essay Gyasi shared with the Club one of the challenges facing today’s youth; namely the rise of social media and cyberbullying, taking a toll on self-esteem and confidence, leading to feelings of isolation. In his essay Gyasi described his involvement with Key Club and how volunteering at the Christmas party for foster children and interacting with these children helped him to better understand the need of young people to fit in and be part of a larger community. Gyasi proposed addressing this need by using the Key Club and other community service clubs to reach out to young people and get them involved in service activities. He described how service clubs can help give young people a sense of belonging through shared community service as follows, “All service you can do makes a difference, no matter big or small, and there are no societal or personality requirements to achieve such service. I would motivate young people to participate in service activities by making sure that everyone can see the positive effects of community service, making sure everyone’s ideas are heard by upper leadership, and taking action on suggestions. I strive to make everyone feel like they have contributed to bettering our community and they belong to a diverse and varying family of devoted volunteers.”
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos feels that this is a very worthy effort and commends Gyasi for his service to the youth in Los Alamos.
When receiving the award Gyasi was joined by his mother Autumn Atta-Fynn and LAHS teacher Jon Frost, who nominated him for the award. Rotarian Vincent Chiravalle conducted the award ceremony.
The motto of Rotary is Service above Self. To support this motto in each academic year, the Rotary Club of Los Alamos honors “Distinguished Students of Service” in their junior year of high school.
Students are first nominated by their teachers who are asked to select those who:
- Have given positive contributions to their high school and/or in the community;
- Have a good attitude toward learning;
- Are good citizens, are respectful of their peers and teachers; and
- Have good grades, attendance and classroom participation.
The Club then selects students based on demonstrated spirit of service and exemplification of the Rotary 4 Way Test:
- Is it the truth?
- Is it fair to all concerned?
- Will it build good will and better friendships?
- Will it be beneficial to all concerned?