Local kids and teens honored at 27th annual Service Above Self Youth Awards Ceremony
Published 12:09 am Saturday, January 13, 2024
Sawyer Jones shakes Jay Baker's hand as he accepts his award. Brad Dountz / Salisbury Post
Emma Phillips (left) takes a picture with Rowan-Salisbury Schools' Superintendent Dr. Kelly Withers (right). Submitted photo
Dr. Jim Duncan speaks to the crowd at the Service Above Self Awards Ceremony at Keppel Auditorium. Brad Dountz / Salisbury Post
Catawba College scholarship winners: (from left to right) Drew Aron of Salisbury High, Dr. Jared Tice, Riley Herge of Jesse Carson High, Khari Short of North Rowan High School. Submitted photo
SALISBURY — Volunteering and giving back to others has no age requirement. Many people think of the adults who do unselfish acts, but kids and teens are just as active.
On Jan. 11, Catawba College’s Keppel Auditorium hosted the 27th annual Service Above Self Youth Awards Ceremony to acknowledge all of the hard work people ages 5 to 18 who live in Rowan County have recently done.
“It’s a program that recognizes our youth who have lent their hand in service to others in our community over the past year,” Chairman of Service Above Self and Senior Vice President, College Experience/Dean of Students Dr. Jared Tice said.
Service Above Self Committee member Dr. Jim Duncan started the ceremony 28 years ago.
Duncan said there was a similar one that highlighted adults, but not younger people.
Duncan then spoke with the Rotary Club and United Way about putting on a separate ceremony for kids. At first, they didn’t think Duncan’s idea would last too long.
“We’ll do it for one year and see how it goes,” Duncan said.
The first year they had 35 students and it has grown ever since with north of 130 people showing up this year. Duncan says his favorite part of the ceremony is seeing all of the recipients walk across the stage and accept their awards.
“They are our future. I love it because you’ll see some of them will wear the best clothes they have to come to the ceremony. Their parents and grandparents are so excited to see them. It makes you want to weep,” Duncan said.
Groups in Rowan County that were also honored included scout troops, JROTCs, and school affiliated organizations. Selected students also received gift cards and scholarships from Catawba College, Livingstone College, and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College worth thousands of dollars.
Scout Troop 4328 won the first place prize for the Service Above Self group high school category. Alyssa Godfrey and her friends founded the troop so that they could do the kinds of activities they didn’t offer in Girls Scouts.
“It’s not like Girl Scouts. We wanted to actually go out hiking, camp and do stuff that’s not just crafts because when I was in Girl Scouts all we did was crafts. So we wanted to do more,” Godfrey said.
Their troop organized canned food drives, picked up trash around lakes, and built a bridge for a park. Still, for them, winning first place was quite the surprise.
“It feels unexpected. We didn’t think we would,” Godfrey said.
