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The Winners are in!
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This January, 24 incredible BRICK Awards Finalists gathered in New York City for an exciting day of interviews, photos, and video shoots. The goal: to narrow down this amazing batch of young leaders to the 12 cream of the crop BRICK Award Winners. The task seemed impossible, but we feel confident that the 12 winners below will blow you away! |
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GLOBAL IMPACT
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| Ruth DeGolia (24 years old) Mercado Global  Links Latin America's most rural and economically disadvantaged women's cooperatives to the US market, providing fair wage employment for 176 artisans in Guatemala. 100% of profits fund local development projects selected by local women. www.mercadoglobal.org |
Kimmie Weeks (25 years old) Youth Action International  Survivor of the Liberia civil war who (if he survived) vowed to help children in war torn countries. Thousands of children in post war African countries have benefitted from YAI's centers, micro-credit loans, scholarships, peace schools, playgrounds and agriculture programs. www.youthactioninternational.org |
| Cheryl Perera (21 years old) OneChild Network & Support Systems Inc  Put herself on the line by posing as decoy to catch pedophile in Sri Lanka; international speaker on the issue of child sex trafficking. Has spread the word to hundreds of thousands of people. www.one-child.ca |
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HEALTH |
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| David Fajgenbaum (21 years old) National Students of AMF (Ailing Mothers & Fathers)  Mom died from brain cancer and he started a network of students to support each other through times of bereavement. 23 chapters nationwide and growing. www.studentsofamf.org |
Jennifer Zwilling (16 years old) Tourette Syndrome Association Youth Ambassador Program  Diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome. Is advocate for understanding and acceptance, speaking before thousands. http://www.tsa-usa.org/People/kids/YouthAm.htm |
| Jennifer Staple (25 years old) Unite For Sight  Bringing vision and curbing preventable eye disease worldwide: 90 chapters and 13 eye clinics in North America, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. Services to 400,000 people worldwide and sponsored 6,000 sight-restoring surgeries. www.uniteforsight.org |
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EDUCATION + ENVIRONMENT |
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| Ashley Rhodes-Courter (21 years old) North American Council on Adoptable Children  National advocate; raises awareness about poor conditons in foster care; inspires others to adopt hard-to-place kids; helped Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption generate $1M. www.nacac.org |
William Hwang (22 years old) United InnoWorks Academy  Recruits college students to mentor middle-school aged kids. Teaches the kids how to use science, technology, math, and engineering to create rockets, engage in crime scene investigation, and apply those subjects to their every day lives. Over 300 volunteers at 7 colleges nationwide. www.innoworks.org |
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Kelly Voigt (14 years old) |
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COMMUNITY BUILDING |
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| Divine Bradley (24 years old) Team Revolution  Converted his home into a community center, giving kids in tough neighborhoods an alternative. Provides self-development programs, career and financial literacy training and community service projects as alternatives to crime, violence etc. www.teamrevolution.org |
Hannah Taylor (10 years old) The Ladybug Foundation, Inc.  Speaks out all over Canada about homeless people and how to help them. Has raised over 1 million dollars for Canadian hunger and homelessness issues. www.ladybugfoundation.ca |
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Jacob Komar (14 years old) |
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Finalists
Diane Geng (24 years old)
Rural China Education Foundation (RCEF)
Recruits college volunteers to teach and mentor rural chinese kids in 8 villages. Volunteers have helped over 400 children and new chapters are blossoming across the world. www.ruralchina.org
Josh Sundquist (22 years old)
Less Than Four
Cancer survivor, amputee, Paralympic ski racer; created social networking site for amputees to ask questions, get answers, develop community; has weekly speaking engagements where he meets with amputees about how to live normal lives. www.JoshSundquist.com
Hannah Watkins (17 years old)
Children's Books about Disaster Preparedness
Wrote series of childrens books to help kids and families better prepare for natural disasters (tsunami, earthquakes, wildfires, volcano eruptions, etc.) http://www.borough.kenai.ak.us/emergency/books/watkins.htm
Daniel Zoughbie (22 years old)
The Global Micro Clinic Project
Grandmother died from diabetes during Palestinian Intifada. Has established 50 health clinics in deprived areas/refugee camps in West Bank. Diabetes clinics are cooperatives (community owned and managed) in partnership with local doctors and nurses. http://microclinicproject.org
Bertrand Perdomo (17 years old)
Youth Health Action Board
Latino health activist lobbying and educating public on urban youth health needs (like nutritious food and public health centers).
Elissa Smith (21 years old)
Sierra Youth Coalition
International advocate for the environment, focusing on climate change. Has raised over 400K for environmental initiatives. http://www.syc-cjs.org/tiki-index.php
Alexander Lin (13 years old)
Project WIN '05
Established an electronic waste management system for his town. Has recycled over 40 tons of E-Waste to date. http://www.w-i-n.ws/Project%202005%20index.htm
Kelydra Welcker (16 years old)
Quantification, Removal and Recovery of the Teflon Surfactant APFO
Devised simple test for people in her town in WV to discover contaminants in water. Patent pending. DuPont wasn't taking the initiative, so Kelyra did. http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20060628/Feature1.asp
Theo Milonopoulos (19 years old)
Vox Populi
Activist against gun violence; at 11 yrs old petitioned LA to enact ammunition ban, lobbied for state-wide ban on assault weapons, has published essays on gun violence in nat'l papers, magazines, and speaks at numerous nat'l school safety conferences. www.voxpupoliusa.org
Ashley Shuyler (21 years old)
AfricAid, Inc.
Creates greater educational opportunities for girls in Tanzania. Has raised over $350,000 for scholarships and supplies. www.africaid.com
Kayla Cornale (17 years old)
Sounds into Syllables
Inspired by cousin with autism, created a new teaching system for kids with autism-- uses music to teach spelling, reading, classifying, etc. Patented system now being used in schools around the US. http://www.innovationcanada.ca/25/en/articles/cornale.html
Talia Leman (11 years old)
RandomKid
Inspired by hurricanes, wars, tsunami, Darfur, AIDS, etc. Has become activist getting other children to be active through things like trick-or-treating for relief funds, etc. www.randomkid.org