youth

Today’s guest post is written by Angela Foremaster, a freshman at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Earlier this year, Angela was named Nevada's top high school volunteer of 2012 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards for collecting small gifts to fill Christmas stockings for foster children and homeless teens in the greater Las Vegas area.

During the Christmas season, it seems like everyone is looking for ways to help others.  I wanted to do something special that would make a difference.  I established a project that donates Christmas stockings to children in foster care.  My starting goal was to donate 100 stockings to one organization; I ended up with 250 stockings that we donated to two organizations.

School is back in session and we want to share with you cool ways to get involved in service-learning.

GenerationOn’s partners at YSA are offering UnitedHealth HEROES grants of up to $1,000 for youth-led projects that encourage kids to get active and healthy. Grants are available for youth-led service-learning projects which aim to combat childhood obesity through walking, running or hiking programs.

Aniya Wells is one of the most passionate writers you'll ever meet. Though her writing interests run the gamut – from personal finance to health to current events and more – her primary interest is modern higher education. She serves as a reliable online degree guide for students by contributing for www.onlinedegreeprograms.com blog. Don't hesitate to contact Aniya for questions or comments at aniyawells@gmail.com.

Michelle Nunn reflects on her families experiences at the national parks this summer.

My son, Vinson, is a great enthusiast for earning badges and pins of any sort, so we became devotees of the Junior Ranger program as we traveled through the national parks this summer. To earn his badges, we identified sage brush, learned what Sitting Bull did during the Battle of the Little Big Horn (stayed with the women and children), and discovered how long it took to carve the figures on Mount Rushmore (14 years).

Lauren Stock, age 13, is an eighth grader at Greenhill School in Dallas, Texas. Outside of school and High School Heroes, she dances, plays softball and is involved at her synagogue. She is a 2011 generationOn Excellence in Leadership and Service awardee, an honor that recognizes young people’s impact on local, national and global communities and inspires those around them to do the same.

When I was 9, my mom was diagnosed with t-cell lymphoma, a rare form of blood cancer. My mom’s treatment included more than 600 hours of chemotherapy and extended hospital stays. In addition, the doctors said she needed a stem cell transplant to survive. I didn’t know anything about a stem cell transplant and neither did the rest of my family.