Flathead High senior honored with service award

Flathead High School senior Sophia Skwarchuk was named one of Montana’s top two youth volunteers by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.

The award program honors two students in each state for outstanding acts of volunteerism. Skwarchuk will receive $1,000 and a four-day trip to Washington, D.C. in May where she will join 102 other honorees.

The 18-year-old was recognized for creating an Android app called MontanaEats. The app provides low-income people easy access to information on food pantries, food banks and emergency assistance resources in Montana.

As a member of the Governor and First Lady Youth Leadership Council, Skwarchuck taught herself to write computer code to create the app after learning about the rate of homelessness and food insecurity in her community. She also realized that knowing where to go for help was often a challenge.

Skwarchuk decided to code the app for the Android operating system because of its popularity and lower cost. The free app, available on Google Play, is now being used by food agencies throughout Montana. In the future, Skwarchuk plans to include information from other states in her app, and develop a version for Apple’s iPhones.

COLUMBIA FALLS High School senior Colin Norick was named a distinguished finalist for his community service efforts in creating a club for teen leaders.

Norick organized Teen Leaders in the Community to introduce students to the benefits of volunteer service, and coordinated a student-run community dinner that served 60 meals each month to people in need throughout the school year.

Inspired by the kindness his older brother and a friend showed him as a child when autism made it hard to play with other kids, Norick also coordinated a Community Kitchen meal as the president of his 4-H Club.

While in Washington, D.C., state honorees will tour the capital’s landmarks, meet top youth volunteers from other parts of the world, attend a gala awards ceremony at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and visit congressional representatives on Capitol Hill.

On May 8, five middle school and five high school students will be named America’s top youth volunteers of 2017 and will receive additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions, crystal trophies and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice.

For information visit http://spirit.prudential.com or www.nassp.org/spirit.