2 Maui teens named top volunteers

Advertiser Staff

Two Maui teens have been named Hawai'i's top youth volunteers in this year's Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program.

Tiffany Chou, 17, of Pukalani, and Theodore Dodson, 14, of Wailuku, will represent the state in the national program, traveling to Washington, D.C., in May when 10 students will be recognized as the top youth volunteers in the country for 2004.

Both award winners were nominated by their schools. Chou is a senior at Seabury Hall in Makawao, and Dodson is an eighth-grader at St. Anthony Junior Senior High School in Wailuku.

Chou was inspired by her autistic brother, Christian, to create "The Dancing Palette Project," a weekend social program offering art, drama and dance activities for special-needs students and their teenage mentors. She and her best friend, Clairesse Brogotti, recruited volunteers and then organized the program at Seabury Hall.

Dodson spent the past three summers volunteering as a senior patrol leader for elementary school children at a Cub Scout summer camp.

Two other Hawai'i students were recognized as Distinguished Finalists: Mika'ele Pavao, 18, a senior at Hana High and Elementary School on Maui, and Kelsey Yamasaki, 17, a senior at Roosevelt High School in Honolulu.