A Roslyn High School senior has been named a Distinguished Finalist in the national 2013 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program, which honors young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism and impressive community service activities.
Alec Urbach, also a film student at the Long Island High School for the Arts, was one of just eight New York students to be chosen for the award for his work on the nonprofit Giving From the Ground Up, which he founded in 2009.
Giving From the Ground Up provides education in math, science and hygiene to elementary school students in Africa through animated films and corresponding cartoon workbooks.
“It’s a real honor for me to be recognized for my efforts at effecting positive change,” Urbach said in a statement issued by the program. “Everyone has their own, innate ability to make the world a better place. My path is through improving education. There’s a real barrier to literacy for these children. I’m working to help them break through it.”
Giving From the Ground Up, which spawned a subsidiary, Alec’s Animated Schoolhouse, has a volunteer core of 500 serving several nations, including Ghana, Botswana and Togo, according to the release. The videos, featuring the characters Finnius Fox and Patty the Hummingbird, have reached nearly a quarter of a million students.
According to Giving From the Ground Up’s Web site, Urbach writes, animates and edits all the material for Alec’s Animated Schoolhouse, including a comic book series which teaches children about social issues like bullying, negative peer pressure, staying in school and the importance of clean water.
The program is working toward expanding to Central and South America, developing the lesson plans and comic books to Spanish.
“You are an exemplary role model for your peers,” wrote Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangefeld in a letter congratulating Urbach. “Thank you for your inspiring commitment to serving y our community. Contributions like yours make our communities and our entire nation stronger. We salute you.”
