The City of Centennial recognized six high school students with Youth Achievement Awards and $500 scholarships during a recent city council meeting. The award honors students who have positively impacted the community through volunteer work or exemplary deeds.
Centennial’s Youth Commission and building services provider, SAFEbuilt, provided the scholarship money.
The following local high school students were chosen:
Brittany Berglund, a Cherry Creek High School senior, volunteered for the Children’s Museum of Denver and trained other volunteers at the Marisco Campus Low Sensory Program for children with disabilities. She received the Presidents Volunteer Service Award through the Corporation for National and Community Service. She also tutored for Beyond the Bell, the Avid Program at Pine Ridge Elementary School, which prepares students for success in higher education.
Haylee Blach, a Regis High School senior, built a house for a single mother and her children on a mission trip to Nicaragua. She’s volunteered for several charitable organizations, including Salvation Army, Feed My Starving Children, Place Bridge Academy, the Ronald McDonald House, Food Bank of the Rockies, and Newborns in Need. She also enjoys mentoring special needs athletes through the Project Unify basketball team.
Nicholas Harguth-Galyas, an Arapahoe High School senior, sponsors a child in Rwanda through World Vision and volunteers for the Denver Rescue Mission, Feed My Starving Children, and Operation Christmas Child. He also helped start an organization that provides support to schools affected by school shootings. He’s currently volunteering at the Jiminy Wicket organization to help Alzheimer’s patients play croquet in a safe environment.
Lucy Lawrence, a junior at Arapahoe High School junior, has mentored and befriended an elementary student with reactive attachment disorder and a classmate with autism. She also mentors middle school girls through the Girl Talk program and volunteers with Family Promise, a group that helps the homeless. Lawrence forgoes a birthday party every year and instead asks friends to volunteer.
Dylan Van Denend, an Arapahoe High School senior, has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, served the homeless through Denver’s CAFÉ 180, and instructed Kompound for Women’s Self Defense classes. He’s passionate about serving people with disabilities and plans to pursue a career in nursing.
Abigail Wist, a senior at Regis High School, is a member of the National Charity League, a philanthropic organization of mothers and daughters. She’s volunteered at Project C.U.R.E, Fresh Harvest Food Bank, Newborns in Need, Project Angel Heart, Holly Creek Community Center, and tutored at an elementary school. She also helped impoverished children on a mission trip to Belize.