La Porte High School Students receive national award signed by President Barack Obama

 
LA PORTE, IN - It's not every day that students from rural Indiana receive an award signed by the president of the United States but Juniors: Ben Barber, Rachel Cable, Julia Garay, Victor Vargas and Sophomores: Martin Garcia, Vanessa Martinez, Brandi Morrow and Alan Spradlin all received President's Volunteer Service Awards, signed by President Barack Obama. The awards, issued through The LEAGUE and presented by Vicki Perkins, Indiana State Director of The LEAGUE are the results of service hours the students performed to benefit the people in LaPorte, Indiana. The LEAGUE is a school and web-based system for service learning that builds character and empowers young people to "do good" in their community, the nation and the world, will be
 
This year the LPHS juniors received Gold Awards which account for over 250+ hours of volunteer time. The sophomores garnered Silver awards for 175-249 hours of service. Both groups helped the community through activities such as helping the La Porte Parks Department clean area parks. The students also painted park benches and cleaned the lakes of debris.  These industrious teens also helped organized three blood drives; collected over 400 pairs of sandals/flip flops for children in the Middle East; and during the Holidays raised funds to adopt under privileged families. Those funds enabled them to purchase gifts and food. Those are just a few of the volunteer efforts these amazing students undertook this past year.
 
But this is not the first award signed by a U S president these students have received. At a LEAGUE event hosted by Queen Latifah and presented by Stephen Baldwin in New York City last year, Victor Vargas and Morgan Noble, on behalf of their class received awards signed by President George W. Bush. While the award was fulfilling, having their picture taken with Queen Latifah was thrilling.
 
At another LEAGUE event in New York, Barber, Cable, Garay, and Vargas were honored for being National High School Team Champions. MTV News Correspondent, SuChin Pak, presented the LPHS students their award for being National High School Team Champion.
 
In January of 2009 Hough, Spradlin, Vargas and their classmates: Joe Bierl, Kayla Fardulis, Julie Herbst, Kadie Hooley, Elisha Krauth, Abbey Light, Vanessa Martinez, Breland McMmillan, Kharson Nurnberg, Jessica Roberts and Shayna Shelton participated in Hey U G L Y'S  global initiative to end racism called, the Hue-Man Being Art Project. Their artwork, selected by art experts, won the honor of being exhibited at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City, Indiana and the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph Michigan. The exhibit, which is featured in the paperback - Hue-Man Kind A Book To End Racism, - will be on display at the Indiana State Capital building next spring. A New York film crew from Nickelodeon came to LPSH and filmed some of these young artists for a segment that aired on Nick News w/Linda Ellerbee during Black History Month earlier this year.
 
During the Hue-Man Being Art Project, Courtney Hough asked Hey U G L Y to add the words RACISM and HATE to their Acronym Contest which is annually judged by journalists from media like People Magazine and ABC TV. Serendipitously, Hough won first place in this year’s contest garnering a $500 U S Savings Bond for her conversion of RACISM to Remove All Color, I'm Simply Me. The Savings Bond was presented to Hough by Hey U G L Y president and co-founder, Betty Hoeffner from Rolling Prairie, Indiana. Hey U G L Y is a nonprofit organization that helps teens and pre-teens counter bullying, eating disorders, violences, substance abuse and suicide.
 
So what’s in the water at LPHS that's got these students achieving so much? To ask the kids, Hey U G L Y and the LEAGUE it's Mrs. Ingrid Voelker. Mrs., Voelker is Title 1 Transitional Coach at LPHS and facilitates G.B.O.T. (Get Back On Track), a program to assist seniors earn deficient credits in order to graduate on time.
 
"Mrs. Voelker makes school a fun place to be," said Alex Allgower, a sophomore at LPHS.
 
"She helps us understand the importance of working hard, giving back and enjoying life," explained Vargas.
 
The LEAGUE saluted Mrs. Voelker last year in New York as her team had an economic value returned to the La Porte community of over $99,468!  Not bad for rural Indiana.