In this, the third installment of The Youth Center’s Stellar Volunteer tetralogy, the center acknowledges the accomplishments of local high school student Katie Recker. The Youth Center recently recognized four extraordinary youth volunteers by surprising them at their homes. The four were selected from hundreds who were nominated for the prestigious 2021 Stellar Volunteer Award. This year’s awardees of $500 scholarships were: Lukas Evert, Katie Recker, Davis Taylor and Kirsten Okamoto. Katie was nominated for the prestigious Stellar Volunteer award by Los Alamitos Unified School District and Girl Scouts.
Katie is a well-rounded, good student, known for doing whatever is asked of her by her community without expecting anything in return. She is an Ambassador Level Girl Scout and volunteers at Casa Youth Shelter, St. Anne Catholic Church and Lee Elementary school.
Katie began her Girl Scouts journey in kindergarten and just completed her 13th year in Girl Scouts with six of her original Girl Scout Daisies, plus three others who transitioned into her troop throughout the years. She completed her Girl Scout Gold Award in 2017 by creating a Literacy Fair at Precious Life Shelter, guiding the mothers on how to read and select books effectively for their children. She chose Precious Life Shelter as the beneficiary of her project following in her brother’s footsteps, who completed his Boy Scout Eagle Project there. Learning how to read in kindergarten and 1st grade was a struggle for Katie, which is why she chose a Literacy Fair for her project. She loves kids and aspires to be a teacher one day.
Katie also volunteers at Casa Youth Shelter after having attended a youth leadership conference hosted by the organization. She enjoys helping wherever and whenever she can at the shelter.
Katie attends and volunteers at St. Anne Catholic Church in Seal Beach. She grew up in St. Hedwig’s Church but transitioned to St. Anne to go through the confirmation program there. Once confirmed, she continued to help with the confirmation program, working with incoming candidates. She also volunteers at the Sunday afternoon youth mass as an usher or eucharistic minister.
Finally, Katie volunteers at Lee Elementary (her alma mater) at the beginning and end of each school year, helping set up and tear down her mom’s classroom, as well as those of her mom’s coworkers. She also volunteers during the school year when her schedule allows. This school year, she taught her mom’s 5th grade class how to sign the Pledge of Allegiance.
“Katie stands out as a hard-working, friendly and dedicated student and citizen,” said Lina Lumme, Executive Director of The Youth Center. “I can’t wait to see where life leads her and the impact she will have on future generations,” she concluded.
For more information about the A Night Among the Stars event or to nominate an outstanding youth volunteer for 2022, visit www.theyouthcenter.org/a-night-among-the-stars.
The Youth Center is a non-profit organization whose mission is to transform children’s lives one family at a time through collaborative social, educational and recreational programs. Since the birth of the Youth Center in 1952, The Youth Center has been honored to establish valuable partnerships within the community and acknowledges their critical importance in the organization’s current and future success. For additional information on The Youth Center, please call (562) 493-4043 or visit www.TheYouthCenter.org.
