Two more South Whidbey teens have joined the growing ranks of youths caught doing good in their communities.
Lukas Corradini and Samantha Estill, both of Clinton, will be honored next week by the Island County Children’s Commission.
Caught in the Act awards will be presented to the pair at the Langley City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 6 at city hall on Second Street. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m.
Corradini, 15, who will be a South Whidbey High School sophomore in the fall, was chosen for his contributions to South Whidbey Youth Connection’s Hub after-school teen facility at Langley United Methodist Church.
“He always has a happy and sunny disposition and never seems to meet anyone he doesn’t like,” Frankie Petitclerc, Hub program manager, wrote in nominating him for the award.
“He never hesitates to volunteer when he sees the need,” she said.
Corradini, the son of Tracey and Larry Corradini of Clinton, began visiting the Hub when he was at Langley Middle School.
“It’s fun,” he said Thursday of the award. “I never got one before.”
Petitclerc praised Corradini for his efforts to get new Hub visitors acclimated, and for helping out in the kitchen and with fundraisers.
“Because of Lukas, kids who otherwise might have more difficulty adjusting to this new environment are made to feel welcome,” she wrote.
Estill, 17, who will be a South Whidbey High School senior in the fall, has been a volunteer barista and bookseller at South Whidbey Commons Coffeehouse Bookstore in Langley for more than a year.
She’s the daughter of Donna and Brad Estill of Clinton.
“I was shocked, because I don’t think of my role in the community as outstanding,” Estill said Monday. “I just like to help.”
SWC operations director Gena Kraha, in nominating Estill for the award, praised her work with the organization’s Youth Engagement Squad and for her help in the recent 14-week remodel of the coffeehouse and bookstore.
As part of her culminating school project, Estill took part in planning sessions for the remodel.
“Sam’s willingness to step in when extra help is needed and her positive attitude are refreshing,” Kraha wrote.
Estill said she’s looking forward to her senior year in high school.
“The future beyond that is a wide-open possibility,” she said. “I love to have a backstage role in theater, swim at the beach, volunteer at the library and especially volunteer with my friends at the bookstore.”
“Caught in the Act” (CITA) is a recently instituted awards program of the volunteer Children’s Commission, which was established in Island County in 2007 to address the needs of young people and to break down the barriers between youth and adults.
Corradini and Estill are the third and fourth South Whidbey teens to win the award. Previous winners were Maverick Christensen, 13, of Freeland, and Jenny Zisette, 15, of Langley.
The commission also has presented awards to a Coupeville student and three teens in Oak Harbor, said Cynthia Shelton of Langley, one of 20 members of the commission scattered throughout the county. Camano Island also is participating in the program.
Youth to age 20 can be CITA-nominated by anyone who wants to reward acts of unselfishness, Shelton said.
For information about the children’s commission, or to make a CITA nomination, call Dan Bond at 360-678-7884, e-mail danb@co.island.wa.us, or visit the Web site at www.islandcounty.net/health/Children’s_Commission.
