What’s good? York County region residents, students earn awards, help their community
Each month, The Herald highlights positive news from York, Chester and Lancaster County, South Carolina.
Riverwalk Academy student helps less fortunate
Jazmine Sepulveda, a seventh grade student at Riverwalk Academy in Rock Hill, was named South Carolina’s top youth volunteer of 2019 by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, according to a statement from Riverwalk, a public K-9 grade charter school. The national programs honors people for volunteering in their communities.
Sepulveda makes and sells bracelets to raise money for school supplies and clothes for children in the Dominican Republic, according to the statement from Riverwalk. Sepulveda is a native of the Dominican Republic.
“I’ve always had a heart for others,” Jazmine said in a prepared statement. “My mother tells me that when I was only two years old, on Christmas day I saw all of the gifts under the tree and grabbed the smallest gift for me and left the others for my cousin.”
Sepulveda will receive $1,000 and a silver medallion. She’s been invited to the awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. in May where ten national winners will be announced, according to the statement.
Winthrop alumna named Research Librarian of the Year
Kaetrena Davis Kendrick of Blythewood, associate librarian at the University of South Carolina-Lancaster Medford Library, was named the 2019 Association of College and Research Libraries’ Academic/Research Librarian of the Year, according to a release from the association.
Kendrick graduated from Winthrop University.
The award recognizes a library professional who has significantly contributed to academic or research librarianship and library development, the release states.
“Kaetrena ... is a fully engaged and dedicated professional with her finger on the pulse of some of the most relevant and significant issues in academic librarianship today,” Jennifer L. Fabbi, chair of the ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award Committee and dean of the California State University-San Marcos University Library, said in the release. “Her work in the areas of underserved and rural user populations, professional ethics, and morale in the profession are discussed widely and used in graduate library programs.”
Kendrick is the author of multiple books, including “The Kaleidoscopic Concern: An Annotated Bibliography of Diversity, Recruitment, Retention, and Other Concerns Regarding African American and Ethnic Library Professionals in the United States.”
Kendrick will receive $5,000 from the association during an April conference.
“This award has recognized librarians on whom I have modeled my practical and scholarly endeavors, and I am deeply humbled. I join them with a spirit of thankfulness and resolve,” Kendrick said in the release.
York schools celebrate student wins, good deeds
Alto saxophone player Abby Traylor, a senior at York Comprehensive High School, was invited to perform in the South Carolina Band Directors recital on Feb. 9. Traylor is one of just 14 students from across the state to perform in the competition, according to a statement from the York school district.
Traylor performed at the USC Alumni Center ballroom in Columbia.
Some York students worked to help others.
Members of the Floyd D. Johnson Technology Center’s DECA Club raised $1,100 for the South Carolina Alzheimer’s Association, according to a release from the district. The students raised the money during the second annual DECA 5K run held in the fall and organized by seniors Jordyn Burton and Aisha Ozog.
What do you want for lunch? York students answer.
York Comprehensive High school students got to weigh in on new student lunch menu options. During multiple days of tastings, Jan. 22-25, 1,500 students voted on their favorite meals. The winning menu was added to the school’s serving lines.
York was one of 150 school districts across the country to hold the student choice program. The themed menus were: Made to Melt, a combination of comfort food recipes, Roost, which focused on chicken dishes served in a variety of ways and Flame, a take on grilled burgers and sandwiches, according to a release from the school district.
“Our goal is to find out what the students want to eat, and this was the best way to receive feedback and participation from the students,” Latisha Holt, director of dining services for the district, said in a prepared statement. “I was excited to bring something new and inventive to York Comprehensive High School.”
Students voted on their favorite of the three concepts. With more than 1,000 votes for items in the Roost menu, the concept took home the win. That menu was served to students starting on Feb. 4.
Flame and Made to Melt concepts will also appear on student lunch lines soon, according to the district.
Fort Mill scouts collect food for needy
Members of Boy Scout Troop 219 in Fort Mill on Feb. 2 collected 1,642 pounds of food for Project Hope in Rock Hill, said Bill Curtin, assistant scout master.
Scouts Jared Barnes, Tyler Barnes, Miller Chism, Will Curtin, Logan Fitzgibbon, Evan Heisler, George Jacobs, Jacob Lavigne, Will McInnis, Aidan Rohlfs, Evan Sageser, Jacob Webster, Zach Webster, Colin Kirby, Daniel Merkle, Logan Dayrit, Alan Dayrit, Kyle Marciniak, and Issac Crane helped with annual Scouting For Food program, Curtin said.
This story was originally published February 24, 2019 at 8:40 PM.
