Sierra Brantz: The Wallace senior with a servant's heart

Wallace High School senior Sierra Brantz has been named the winner of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award.

The award, which recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities and their country, was granted by the Prudential Spirit of community Awards program on behalf of the president's Council on Service and Civic Participation.

Wallace High School nominated Brantz for National Honors this fall in recognition of her volunteer service.

“I started becoming more involved in community projects and international projects when I began the 6th grade,” Brantz said. “I first started attending a youth group in 6th grade called Northwest Christian Teens, and in 10th grade I went on my first mission trip to a camp in Canada.”

From there Brantz continued to get involved both locally and abroad.

“I have participated in include adopt a highway, local community service projects, health fairs, and other events that are put on by Shoshone Medical Center, harvest festivals, adopt a family, fundraisers for cancer funds, community events, writing letters to veterans, a mentoring program called Big-Little, volunteering at Hope Pregnancy Resource Center, creating a recreational center in Wallace, Elks foundation activities, the Special Olympics, and kids ministry at Real Life Ministries,” Brantz said.

During the Summer of the 2016 Brantz accompanied Northwest Christian Teens to Peru, where they worked with people living along the Ucayali River.

Building a church for the residents, as well as clothing them, providing educational materials, and just loving on them, Brantz found this to be as rewarding as anything that she has ever done.

“Never have I seen people with so little have so much joy in their hearts,” Brantz said. “It overwhelmed me.”

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) recognizes middle level and high school students across America for outstanding volunteer service.

“The recipients of these awards demonstrate that young people across America are making remarkable contributions to the health and vitality of their communities,” said John Strangefield, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. “By recognizing the students and placing a spotlight on their volunteer activities we hope to motivate others to consider how they can also contribute to their community.”

“Demonstrating civic responsibility through volunteerism is important part of life,” said NASSP executive director Joanna Bartoletti. “These honorees practice a lesson we hope all young people as well as adults will emulate.”

Prudential Spirit of Community award applications were distributed Nationwide last September through middle level and high school's, girl scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs, and Hands-On Network affiliates.

These schools and officially designated local organizations nominated local honorees, whose applications were advanced for state-level judging.

In addition to granting the president's volunteer service award on behalf half of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards selected state honorees, distinguished finalists, and certificate of excellence recipients.

Volunteer activities were drugs on criteria including personal initiative creativity effort impact and personal growth.