February Parent Newsletter - John Hersey High School

2012 PRUDENTIAL SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY AWARDS
Cassidy Muir, a senior at John Hersey High School, was named a Distinguished Finalist for the
2012 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards in Illinois. This award represents the United States’
largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service. All public and private middle
and high schools in the country, as well as all Girl Scout councils, 4-H organizations, American
Red Cross Chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student
or member for a local Prudential Community of Spirit Award. More than 5,000 local honorees
were reviewed by an independent panel, which selected two honorees and eight istinguished
finalists for Illinois.
Muir was chosen for her service to impoverished areas around the world. “I’ve been given
so much,” she states, “it seems wrong not to give something back.” She first discovered her
desire to help those less fortunate in 2005. As a sixth grader she travelled to Angola with Rise
International, an organization that partners with Angolan churches, community leaders and
government officials to build primary schools in rural Angola. While there, she visited villages and
immediately wanted to help equalize their opportunities.
She realized, “The people there are exactly the same as us, but were born under different
circumstances. Any effort to improve their possibilities in this world is an effort worth making.”
Since then, Muir has used summer vacations as a chance to travel to needy nations and do what
she could to help the less fortunate. In 2009 and 2010, she joined Oasis for Orphans, whose
mission is to care for the orphans of the Trans Mara region of Kenya, helping to build water filters
to provide drinkable water for people of Kenya. While there, she worked with children, teaching
them about personal hygiene and other medical issues.
Also in 2010, she travelled to the Petit-Goave area of Haiti, one of the hardest hit by the
earthquake, to help rebuild schools, serve food, and distribute other daily necessities.
At Hersey, Muir’s desire to assist people of the world doesn’t stop. As a member of Ubuntu,
she has raised awareness and funds for Invisible Children, an organization whose mission is to
stop the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) terrorist organization, participated in The International
Justice Mission’s “Loose Change to Loosen Chains,” to help rescue to victims of slavery, sexual
exploitation and other forms of violent oppression, and joined The Water Project, a charity
dedicated to helping provide clean, safe water to those who suffer needlessly without it.
Why does she do it “It makes me happy; I have only one life, I might as well do something
important with it.”
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