Jacqueline Ho, 17, of Pearl City and Megan Nakahara, 13, of Kamuela today were named Hawai'i's top two youth volunteers for 2008 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 13th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Jacqueline was nominated by Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, and Megan was nominated by Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Kamuela. As state honorees, each will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion, and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees – one middle level and one high school youth – from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for several days of national recognition events. Ten of them will be named America's top youth volunteers for 2008 at that time.

Jacqueline, a senior at Kamehameha Schools, has been an active volunteer for Special Olympics since she was 10. Her mother is a vice president of Special Olympics Hawaii, and her father is a weight-lifting coach for the organization.

Megan, an eighth-grader at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, played a lead role in a monitoring project that collects data on Hawaiian green sea turtles and raises public awareness about the plight of this endangered species.

In addition, the program judges recognized two other Hawai'i students as Distinguished Finalists for their community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion:

Patricia Gilpin, 17, of Kailua, Kona, a senior at Kealakehe High School and a member of the Kona Family YMCA, has been an active member of her school's Interact community service club since her freshman year, and now serves as president. In that role, she recruits members, runs weekly meetings, and organizes activities to benefit the elderly, hungry, disabled and others in her community.

John Pyun, 17, of Honolulu, a senior at Kaiser High School, has volunteered for the past three summers at the King Lunalilo Adult Day Care Center. John's responsibilities included leading activities and games, playing guitar and break-dancing for the residents, and developing a Web site for the center.

All public and private middle level and high schools in the country, as well as all Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and Volunteer Centers, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November. Nearly 4,500 Local Honorees were then reviewed by state-level judges, who selected State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists based on criteria such as personal initiative, creativity, effort, impact and personal growth.