Communities In Schools Student Katherine Foronda Recognized Among Ten Jefferson Award Youth Superstars Nationwide

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Jun 23, 2010, 11:30 ET

WASHINGTON, June 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In recognition of her extraordinary contribution to her school and work within the community, the Jefferson Awards honored Katharine Foronda as a Jefferson Award Youth Superstar at a Washington, D.C. awards dinner held Monday night at The Mayflower Hotel. Known as the "Nobel Prize for Public Service" the Jefferson Awards are presented each year over two days of ceremonies in the nation's capital where a broad array of honorees are recognized – from high-profile individuals who have dedicated the better part of their lives to public service to celebrated professional athletes to largely unheralded community-based volunteers. Also recognized are organizations and companies that represent the pinnacle in corporate citizenship and high schools that best reflect the Jeffersonian ideals of citizen involvement.

Foronda was honored for creating the School Resource Center at her high school with the help of her classmates. She was joined at the awards ceremony with several of those students from Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada's Fellows Academy at Eldorado High School. The team provides mentors and tutors in Math, English and Science and also help with computer training and job information. Their work is all done with the intent of decreasing the drop out rate at their school.

In addition to attending the Jefferson Awards Ceremony, the students will also meet with U.S. Senators Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell. "If anyone would have told me that I would be going to Washington, DC let alone graduating from high school and going to college, I would have told them they were dreaming," said Foronda. "But now I know that dreams really can come true and that I can do anything I set my mind to," she added.

Foronda now joins Communities In Schools Founder Bill Milliken as a recipient of the distinct honor. Milliken received the Jefferson Award last year in the category of Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged for his forty years of work helping young people graduate and prepare for life.

This years Jefferson Awards recipients also include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker, Partners in Health founder Paul Farmer, M.D., Goodwill Industries International President/CEO Jim Gibbons and Tad Skylar Agoglia, the founder of The First Response Team of America.

Communities In Schools surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Through a school-based coordinator, Communities In Schools connects students and their families to critical community resources tailored to local needs. Working in nearly 3,300 schools in the most challenged communities, in 26 states and the District of Columbia, Communities In Schools serves more than 1.3 million young people and their families. It has become the nation's leading dropout prevention organization, and the only one proven to increase graduation rates and decrease dropout rates.

Visit our website at www.communitiesinschools.org

SOURCE Communities In Schools