Minnesota teen among top 10 volunteers

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: May 5, 2008 - 12:51 PM

A 17-year-old Minnesotan is being honored today in Washington, D.C., as one of the nation's top 10 youth volunteers for 2008.

A ceremony at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is recognizing Shanna Decker, of Plainview, as a recipient of the Prudential Spirit of Community Award.

Decker, a senior at Plainview-Elgin-Millville High School, has made more than 600 visits to young cancer patients over the past nine years to give them hope and inspire them with her own cancer experience. When she was 7, Decker had her leg amputated and underwent a year of aggressive chemotherapy for bone cancer.

"During this time, I made the decision to take a tragic situation in my life and somehow turn it into a positive experience," she said. "Because I knew how hard it was to travel this lonely road alone, I was determined to make a difference in the lives of others."

Selected from a field of nearly 20,000 applicants from across the country, Decker and the other nine are given $5,000, an engraved gold medallion, a crystal trophy for her school and a $5,000 grant from the Prudential Foundation for a nonprofit charitable organization of her choice.

In February, Decker and Gabrielle Thompson, 13, of Buffalo, Minn., were named Minnesota's top youth volunteers in February and recognized Sunday night at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, along with the top two youth volunteers of every other state and the District of Columbia. At that event, the state honorees were presented with $1,000 awards and congratulated by Sarah Ferguson, the duchess of York. They also received engraved silver medallions and an all-expense-paid trip with their parents to Washington, D.C., for this week's recognition events.

Gabrielle, a seventh-grader at Buffalo Community Middle School, raised $5,000 for cancer research by selling luminaries at her school and has written a book about coping with childhood cancer.

In partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created 13 years ago by Prudential Financial Inc. to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

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