Students honored for their service

By Michelle LaFiura

Carey High School students Penny Charimedou and Maria Gargiulo have been named volunteers of the year in the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program.

Gargiulo, a junior, co-created a program that teaches elementary school students about world issues.

Gargiulo was already involved with Model United Nations (MUN), a school program that simulates diplomacy and international relations. She noticed, however, that the delegates from a nearby school always placed higher at conferences than Carey delegates.

Eventually, it occurred to Gargiulo that the competing students were passionate about international diplomacy and global issues. They had been introduced to world affairs from a young age.

In response, Gargiulo took the initiative of creating a global issues component in the curriculum at Polk Street School. She worked with another student, as well as teachers and administrators, over a 10-week period to create a simple, but not over-simplified curriculum for young students.

Now, juniors and seniors from Carey’s MUN team teach 22 students for one hour each week at Polk.

The goal of the program is to get the next generation of Carey students interested in MUN. “But more importantly it’s to create [a] group of global citizens who are genuinely concerned with the issues of today’s world,” said Gargiulo.

Also named volunteer of the year was Charimedou, a senior, who is president of her school’s Non-Government Organizations Club (NGO Club/Voices Unheard). The club’s purpose is spreading awareness of non-government aid organizations in third world countries.

In November, for example, they hosted a pizza sale to raise money for Four Girls for a Family, an organization that brings water filters to third world countries.

“We hold fundraisers and run projects every month to raise money,” Charimedou said.

The NGO club also works with organizations like Make a Wish Foundation or Heifer Foundation, a nonprofit that works to eradicate poverty and hunger by providing self-sufficiency.

Charimedou says she finds fulfillment in helping other people.

“Life is a very precious privilege to have,” she said. “Not many people can access basic resources such as food and water, and with death rates skyrocketing, I decided to do something about this critical situation in our current world.”

Additionally, senior Amy Biscardi received a Certificate of Merit for her community service efforts. Biscardi volunteers with Promoting Academics through Life Skills (PALS). PALS focuses on working with students with autism to aid them in achieving individual goals.

Biscardi became involved her sophomore year and since then has worked as a gym leader with autistic students.

Biscardi aspires to work as a special education teacher in the future. She said she has developed a special bond with each child with whom she works.

Sponsored by Prudential Financial and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, awards are presented to students who show outstanding community service initiative.

“These Honorees practice a lesson we hope all young people, as well as adults, will emulate,” said NASSP Executive Director JoAnn Bartoletti.