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Padua Academy has been named the 2011 Jefferson Award Students in Action Bronze Recipient For Outstanding Service By a High School, as a result of their excellent commitment to community service.
A ceremony was held at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., before a crowd of more than 400 people on June 21. Accepting the Bronze Medallion for their school were 18 members of the Padua Academy Student Leader Team. Principal Cindy Mann, Assistant Principal Dr. Mary McClory and Padua’s Jefferson Awards Faculty Coordinator Angel Payne were also in attendance. Padua won the Regional Gold Medal earlier this year, topping 17 schools to secure the opportunity to compete at the national level.
The Jefferson Award is regarded as the Nobel Prize of community service.
“We had worked so hard this year,” said Olivia Massa, who is a 2011 graduate of Padua, and member of the Student Leader Team. “To be recognized was a surprise. We didn’t know we were going to be the bronze recipient.”
For Mann, the awards ceremony reaffirmed what she already knew about her students.
“It reinforces, for me, how wonderful our students are,” Mann said. “Their innovation and their social entrepreneurship and hearts of service are spectacular.”
Between April and March, the students and faculty of Padua volunteered more than 45,000 hours in the community, which is a contribution worth more than $1 million to local, national, and international humanitarian agencies and schools, according to school officials. Service events included a Zumba-thon and cancer walkathon at Rockford Park. Massa said the walkathon stood out to her, as she enjoyed the “sense of community” in how she and her peers united for the cause.
Padua is a Christian-based all-girl school, and it is mandatory that underclassmen donate 15 hours of service each year, and upperclassmen are required to perform 20 hours of service. However, Mann said it is not uncommon for her girls to “record 100 hours” of service.
“It’s built into our DNA to serve others,” Mann said of her students. “We’re doers. We want to see action take place.”
As a result of her students performing service, the principal recognizes it has also had a positive impact around the school, because problems such as the “pervasive bullying” is not much of an issue at Padua.
“When you get active in service, you’re not prone to think of yourself first,” she said. “You don’t have a lot of the bullying and me centered culture, because you say, ‘he’s my brother, how can I help them?’”
Padua Academy has been named the 2011 Jefferson Award Students in Action Bronze Recipient For Outstanding Service By a High School, as a result of their excellent commitment to community service.
A ceremony was held at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., before a crowd of more than 400 people on June 21. Accepting the Bronze Medallion for their school were 18 members of the Padua Academy Student Leader Team. Principal Cindy Mann, Assistant Principal Dr. Mary McClory and Padua’s Jefferson Awards Faculty Coordinator Angel Payne were also in attendance. Padua won the Regional Gold Medal earlier this year, topping 17 schools to secure the opportunity to compete at the national level.
The Jefferson Award is regarded as the Nobel Prize of community service.
“We had worked so hard this year,” said Olivia Massa, who is a 2011 graduate of Padua, and member of the Student Leader Team. “To be recognized was a surprise. We didn’t know we were going to be the bronze recipient.”
For Mann, the awards ceremony reaffirmed what she already knew about her students.
“It reinforces, for me, how wonderful our students are,” Mann said. “Their innovation and their social entrepreneurship and hearts of service are spectacular.”
Between April and March, the students and faculty of Padua volunteered more than 45,000 hours in the community, which is a contribution worth more than $1 million to local, national, and international humanitarian agencies and schools, according to school officials. Service events included a Zumba-thon and cancer walkathon at Rockford Park. Massa said the walkathon stood out to her, as she enjoyed the “sense of community” in how she and her peers united for the cause.
Padua is a Christian-based all-girl school, and it is mandatory that underclassmen donate 15 hours of service each year, and upperclassmen are required to perform 20 hours of service. However, Mann said it is not uncommon for her girls to “record 100 hours” of service.
“It’s built into our DNA to serve others,” Mann said of her students. “We’re doers. We want to see action take place.”
As a result of her students performing service, the principal recognizes it has also had a positive impact around the school, because problems such as the “pervasive bullying” is not much of an issue at Padua.
“When you get active in service, you’re not prone to think of yourself first,” she said. “You don’t have a lot of the bullying and me centered culture, because you say, ‘he’s my brother, how can I help them?’”
