Teen gets national recognition for volunteer efforts

By Tiffany Gibson

Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

After winning the Prudential Spirit Community Award twice, it’s safe to say Daniel Edmondson is not your average high school senior.

Last week, the 17-year-old Boulder City High School student was interviewed by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Communication and Outreach for a national video about his volunteer group called Teens Actively Contributing (TAC).

“The secretary of education decided to give credit for TAC and what it’s done,” Edmondson said. “They came out here with a video crew to capture what TAC is about.”

Edmondson said he likes to think of TAC as a search engine for volunteer work. He said any teen can join the organization and participate in volunteer work. The group has more than 100 active members.

“We also offer kids who have volunteer ideas a source to do it,” Edmondson said. “They can get kids to sign up for their volunteer projects.”

Edmondson said the filming was a little awkward at first. A crew followed him all day, beginning at school with a mock TAC meeting and ending at the Boulder City Hospital, where he volunteers on Mondays and Fridays.

He said his passion for volunteering began when he was 9 years old and teaching taekwondo to fellow students. A few years later, Edmondson said, he set up a tutoring program and now manages two programs, helping both elementary and middle school students.

“My passion for volunteering comes from joy of sharing with others what I love and what I know,” Edmondson said. “I remember tutoring this kid that was failing and then he was passing. Then he was getting straight A’s. It’s like that satisfaction that you can make someone else’s life better.”

Edmondson won his first Prudential Award in eighth grade. Sponsored by Prudential Financial and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the national award honors middle and high school students for outstanding volunteer service to their communities.

Over the summer, Edmondson traveled to Washington, D.C., for the second time to be recognized for winning the award.

He said one of the benefits of traveling to the Capitol is networking with students from across the country.

“I take ideas I see on a national level and bring it back to the community,” Edmondson said. “We are actually exercising some of the practices I’ve seen on the national level.”

Recently, Edmondson began another project to prevent battery acids from seeping into Boulder City’s water. He said he has been collecting used batteries and disposing of them properly.

Boulder City High School Principal Ann Nelson said she is proud of Edmondson and all he is accomplished. “He’s a go-getting young man,” she said.

Nelson said Edmondson is a member of the National Honor Society, a former student council member and helps tutor students in his free time. She said no one is more deserving of the recognition than Edmondson.

“I like that students get state and national recognition, because it shows them a broader world,” Nelson said.

CORRECTION: This story originally reported that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan interviewed Daniel Edmondson. The story has been corrected to say that David Terry on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Communication and Outreach interviewed Edmondson, not Duncan. The Sun regrets this error. | (November 19, 2009)