Florida's Bria Brown of Miami Gardens Named One of America's Top Ten Youth Volunteers

State's Mylo Cheng Also Honored During Four-Day Celebration, With Tribute From Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York

Bria Brown, 13, of Miami Gardens was named one of America's top ten youth volunteers for 2008 in a ceremony today at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, receiving a national Prudential Spirit of Community Award for her outstanding volunteer community service. Selected from a field of close to 20,000 applicants across the country, she received a personal award of $5,000, an engraved gold medallion, a crystal trophy for her school, and a $5,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation for a nonprofit charitable organization of her choice.

Also honored in Washington was Mylo Cheng, 18, of Palm Beach, although he was unable to attend the ceremony. He and Bria were named Florida's top youth volunteers in February, and were recognized last night at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, along with the top two youth volunteers of every other state and the District of Columbia. At that event, Bria and 100 other Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees for 2008 were presented with $1,000 awards, and congratulated by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. The honorees also received engraved silver medallions and an all-expense-paid trip with their parents to Washington, D.C., for this week's recognition events.

Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created 13 years ago by Prudential Financial, Inc. to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models. Since then, the program has honored more than 80,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level.

"Bria and Mylo are inspiring examples of young Americans who care deeply about the needs of others and who have taken the initiative to help meet those needs," said Prudential Chairman Arthur F. Ryan. "By honoring them, we hope not only to give them the recognition they so richly deserve, but also to inspire others to follow their example."

Bria, an eighth-grader at North Dade Middle School and a five-year cancer survivor, gives other young cancer patients hope and encouragement by delivering teddy bears to them in the hospital and at their homes. Bria was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer when she was 6. After her disease went into remission, she wanted to honor the memory of 17 fellow cancer patients she had met in the hospital who did not survive. She began volunteering for the American Cancer Society as honorary chair of the local Relay for Life fund-raiser, and as an advocate for cancer research. But she wanted to do more.

Recalling that many people had given her teddy bears while she was in the hospital, Bria began giving her bears to other children stricken with cancer. Then she recruited friends, classmates and her Girl Scout troop to help her conduct a teddy-bear drive in her community. Before she delivers her bears, she finds out a little about the recipients, and then personalizes her teddy bears for them. "The best part is that I get to spend time with each child after I deliver the bear," said Bria. "This project is important because I have the ability to bring joy and hope to kids with cancer. My involvement will continue until there is a cure or until I leave this Earth."

Mylo, a senior at Suncoast Community High School in Riviera Beach and a member of the Palm Beach County 4-H in West Palm Beach, developed a health education program that has been implemented by 4-H groups across Florida to teach young people the importance of eating nutritiously, exercising regularly, and spending less time in front of TV and computer screens. After attending a state conference on childhood obesity, Mylo began researching the subject and concluded that his generation desperately needed to improve its lifestyle. "I was shocked to discover that many experts believe the life expectancy of my generation will be lower than that of my parents' generation as a result of our unhealthy habits," he said. "This has never happened before in recorded human history."

With a $1,000 grant from the Florida Department of Health, Mylo created a 50-page "healthy lifestyles" manual containing health facts, diet and exercise suggestions, progress charts, information resources and five lesson plans. As the president of Florida 4-H, an organization with more than 225,000 youth members, Mylo distributed his manual to county 4-H programs and hundreds of youth attending statewide 4-H events, all of whom were then trained to teach the importance of health to their local 4-H groups, friends, and relatives. Mylo also has rallied fellow 4-Hers to support federal legislation to improve physical education in schools, and he is now working to introduce his YEAH! (Youth Empowered Ambassadors for Health) program in local schools.

Applications for the 2008 awards program were submitted last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and Volunteer Centers affiliated with the Points of Light & Hands On Network. The top middle level and high school applicants in each state and the District of Columbia were announced in February. These 102 State Honorees are in Washington this week with their parents for four days of special recognition events.

Ten of the 102 were named America's top ten youth volunteers for 2008 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters today. These National Honorees received additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions, crystal trophies for the schools that nominated them, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for charities of their choice. (The ceremony can be viewed at www.prudential.com/spirit.)

The other nine National Honorees are:

Kristen Allcorn, 18, of Sedalia, Mo., who founded a soup kitchen that provides a hot evening meal five days a week, serving needy residents at tables as if they were eating in a restaurant. Called The Community Cafe, Kristen's kitchen has served more than 12,000 meals since December 2006.

Kristin Brandt, 17, of Lock Haven, Pa., who rallied her school and community to help her build a two-bedroom modular home on her school grounds. After 16 months of fund-raising and construction, the house was hauled 1,200 miles to Mississippi, where it was presented to an 80-year-old woman who had lost everything to Hurricane Katrina.

Shanna Decker, 17, of Plainview, Minn., who has made more than 600 visits to young cancer patients over the past nine years to give them hope and inspire them with her own cancer experience, which resulted in a leg amputation. She also is a frequent speaker at events across the country, and has participated in activities that have raised more than $120,000 for sick and disadvantaged kids.

Talia Leman, 13, of Waukee, Iowa, who started an organization called "RandomKid" that seeks to educate, motivate and unify young people around the world to work on a broad spectrum of pressing needs. Her projects have raised money for hurricane victims, helped build a school in Cambodia, and provided clean water in Africa.

Jenna Machado, 17, of Boulder, Colo., who founded a nonprofit organization to increase awareness about depression and suicide prevention, after a cousin took her own life. Jenna has delivered community presentations on the warning signs of depression and suicide, conducted an education program in middle and high schools, and raised money to provide treatment sessions for at-risk teens.

Riley Miller, 14, of Bowling Green, Ky., who has organized an annual citywide day of lemonade sales for the past three years to raise money for childhood cancer research, after losing two little brothers to leukemia. Last year, Riley managed 200 volunteers and 29 lemonade stands, collecting more than $19,000 and bringing her three-year total to $50,000.

Kaylee Marie Radzyminski, 16, of Cleveland, Tenn., who collects CDs and DVDs and sends them out every week to American soldiers serving in combat zones. More than 200 organizations across the country have joined her "Tunes 4 the Troops" campaign, and over 170,000 discs have been shipped to boost the morale of U.S. troops overseas.

Mark Rinkel, 12, of Aurora, Colo., who raised more than $16,000 to provide medical service dogs for his little brother and other children suffering from type I diabetes. To raise the money, he operated a lemonade stand at community events last summer, and built a Web site to solicit donations.

Joey Rizzolo, 13, of Paramus, N.J., who organized a "Freedom Walk" last September that drew more than 450 local residents to join in remembering the lives lost on 9/11, including many in his own town. Joey's event also was dedicated to thanking first responders, U.S. service members and veterans for saving lives and protecting our freedom.

The national selection committee that chose the ten National Honorees was co-chaired by U.S. Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, and Arthur Ryan of Prudential. Also serving on the committee were actor Richard Dreyfuss; Alma Powell, chair of the America's Promise Alliance; Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of the Points of Light & Hands On Network; Amy B. Cohen, director of Learn and Serve America at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA; Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council; Kathryn Forbes, national chair of volunteers, American Red Cross; Neil Nicoll, president and CEO of YMCA of the USA; Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; Barry Stark, president of NASSP; and two 2007 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Kelly Davis of West Bath, Me., and Kelydra Welcker of Parkersburg, W.Va.

NASSP President Barry Stark said: "The young people in this country are capable of doing some extraordinary things given the time and the opportunity. The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards is one of the great showcases of their amazing acts of kindness and selflessness. We are pleased to once again join Prudential in honoring them for their accomplishments."

In addition to the organizations above, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards are supported by the American Association of School Administrators, the National Middle School Association, the National School Boards Association, the Council of the Great City Schools, the National School Public Relations Association and many other national youth and service organizations.

More information about The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and this year's honorees can be found at www.prudential.com/spirit or www.principals.org/prudential.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals - the preeminent organization and the national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals and aspiring school leaders - provides its members with the professional resources to serve as visionary leaders. NASSP promotes the intellectual growth, academic achievement, character development, leadership development, and physical well-being of youth through its programs and student leadership services. NASSP sponsors the National Honor Society(TM), the National Junior Honor Society(TM), the National Elementary Honor Society(TM), and the National Association of Student Councils(TM). For more information on NASSP, NHS, NJHS, NEHS or NASC, visit www.principals.org.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $631 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2008, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping more than 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company's well-known Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.prudential.com.

(Editors: full-color pictures of the Spirit of Community Awards program logo and medallions are available at www.prudential.com/spirit.)