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Spanish Speakers Up 30%, Learners Up 60%

In the last decade, the number of Spanish speakers worldwide has increased by 30%, largely as a result of population growth in Latin America, and the number of learners of Spanish as a second language has grown by 60%, according to the 2020 edition of Spanish in the World, published by the Instituto Cervantes.

The yearbook records that more than 585 million people (7.5% of the world’s population) now speak Spanish, five million more than a year ago, of whom almost 489 million (six million more than in 2019) are native Spanish speakers. Spanish is also the second mother tongue by number of speakers after Chinese, and the third language in a global count of users after English and Chinese.

It is the third-most-used language online and the second, after English, in the publication of scientific texts.

Nearly a million visitors go to Spain to study the language for three main reasons: “the cultural experience, the climate, and the attractiveness of the country,” according to the report.

Luis García Montero, director of the Instituto Cervantes, said at the yearbook’s launch, “we work for a language with a true desire for coexistence, equality, and progress, which are the values that define our culture.“ Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, made the point that that “culture will be one of the most important aspects of the post-COVID recovery.“ The 2020 yearbook, which is already on sale in bookstores, can be downloaded for free at https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_20/. This reference has been published for 22 years, and its demolinguistic reports help the institute to set strategies and choose priorities for action in its work of spreading Spanish language and culture worldwide.

Population Growth in Latin America
The 30% increase in Spanish speakers since 2010 is mainly due to the organic growth of the population in Latin America and the population growth of the Hispanic community in the U.S., which is double that of the rest of the U.S. population—62 million U.S. Americans (18.7% of the total population) are of Hispanic origin.

Much of the enormous increase (60%) in learners of Spanish as a foreign language over the last decade can be explained by the discovery of students that the institute was unaware of, especially in African countries such as Benin and Ivory Coast. Of the current 22,329,275 foreign students of Spanish counted, 37% are from the U.S., 28% from Brazil, and 24% from the European Union.

The yearbook predicts that the number of Spanish speakers will continue to grow “at a very good rate“ over the next five decades, after which (in 2068) a “slight and gradual decline” will continue until the end of the century, when 6.3% of the world’s population will be able to communicate in Spanish.

Language and Identity
The second section of the Yearbook is dedicated to the role of the Spanish language on its own and in its social identity. It addresses the relationship with the various languages with which it coexists: Guaraní in Paraguay, Chabacano in the Philippines, and Judeo-Spanish in Israel, as well as its situation in Equatorial Guinea, in the U.S., and, within Spain, in the bilingual region of Galicia. In the Guaraní section, Ladislaa Alcaraz de Silvero, Paraguay’s minister of language policy, explains through a video the peculiarities of the coexistence of this “language of colloquiality“ with Spanish, which is the “language of prestige and access to the world of work.“

Lastly, the yearbook reviews the situation of Spanish in Germany, Morocco, and India, language tourism in Spain, and academic book publishing in Spanish. Spanish: a living language: 2020 presents data on the Spanish language in all areas: demography, teaching and learning, internet and social networks, science and culture, international influence, economic value, and diplomatic presence. The full report (100 pages) is available at https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/espanol_lengua_viva/pdf/espanol_lengua_viva_2020.pdf.

TESOL’s ‘Quick Guide’ to the 6 Principles

The 6 Principles® Quick Guide: Remote Teaching of K-12 English Learners
Andrea Hellman

book cover

TESOL’s handy new resource, The 6 Principles Quick Guide: Remote Teaching of K–12 English Learners, is here to make remote teaching smoother for you and bring out the best in your students. There’s an overwhelming amount of information available on remote teaching, but it’s not been presented and organized within a framework that’s easy to follow and implement for English language educators.  

Within the six-panel Quick Guide, you’ll find tips, tools, checklists, and more resources to put each of the The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of English Learners into action—from supporting learners’ socioemotional needs to adapting lesson plan delivery for remote learning.

The 6 Principles are:

  1. Know Your Learners
  2. Create Conditions for Language Learning
  3. Design High-Quality Lessons for Language Development
  4. Adapt Lesson Delivery as Needed
  5. Monitor and Assess Student Language Development
  6. Engage and Collaborate within a Community of Practice

You’ll also find insights from fellow educators:

“Unlike a traditional classroom, distance learning is easy to leave and difficult to rejoin after a period of absence. The most essential role for the teacher is to keep students coming.”

You’re not alone in teaching remotely when you have The 6 Principles Quick Guide by your side!

The 6 Principles Quick Guide: Remote Teaching of K–12 English Learners is available to order at http://sites.tesol.org/Bookstore.

Worlds of Reading

BookNook
BookNook brings real-time reading support that’s specialized for dual language learners and all struggling readers. BookNook is built by educators for educators with a synchronous learning model aligned to state standards and flexible programs ranging from one-on-one intervention and remediation to independent small-group reading, all led by trained guides. On average, students gain six months of reading skills in just six weeks. Find out why teachers and students love BookNook—sign up now for support with distance learning through a free trial offer.
www.booknooklearning.com/free-trial

myON
Research shows two key factors can help boost student reading: motivation and access to books. With myON, students get both. Students can choose from personalized reading recommendations, dynamically matched based on grade, interests, and reading level, or browse the vast library of thousands of engaging digital books and age-appropriate news articles in English, Spanish, and additional languages. The program aims to engage students in frequent, high-quality reading practice with robust scaffolds, close-reading tools, professionally recorded audio, and a built-in dictionary that helps students build reading and writing skills. myON’s comprehensive approach to personalized literacy includes all the tools educators need to guide and enrich their students’ reading, along with customizable assignments and reports to help nurture and monitor progress and then celebrate students’ achievements.
www.renaissance.com/products/myon

Scholastic: BookFlix
Offering more than 280 fiction/nonfiction e-formatted books, with nearly 40 pairs in Spanish (80 total books), BookFlix supports beginning and developing readers as they build early literacy skills by pairing engaging animated storybooks with high-interest nonfiction e-books on related subjects. This distinctive pairing approach helps students build not only their love of reading and real-world knowledge, but also their ability to differentiate fiction from nonfiction. Embedded support tools, including natural-voice read-aloud and word highlighting, further support English learners, beginning readers, and struggling readers in strengthening their comprehension skills, fluency, and vocabulary acquisition. 
www.scholastic.com/bookflix

Scholastic: ScienceFlix
ScienceFlix is an online library of more than 20,000 science assets designed to transform the way students access science topics, acquire scientific knowledge, and build a lasting interest in science, technology, and engineering. Appropriate for 600–1200 Lexile® leveled readers, all anchor articles are available in Spanish as well. With its emphasis on the latest STEM thinking and the Next Generation Science Standards, ScienceFlix provides students with a better understanding of science concepts and ideas through hands-on projects, videos, multiple text types, and so much more.
www.scholastic.com/scienceflix

Scholastic: Literacy Pro
Literacy Pro is a robust digital reading platform for K–8 classrooms that provides students with choice, ownership, and access to over 2,500 authentic, high-quality e-books from Scholastic and other publishers. The e-books include 300 titles in Spanish, each with text-based comprehension quizzes in Spanish and some with natural-voice audio in Spanish. Educators can customize the student experience to include Spanish-language books and expand library access below or above grade level based on student needs. Built-in assessments provide actionable data about students’ reading readiness, Lexile® measures, and comprehension, while real-time reports track students’ reading activities and progress.
www.scholastic.com/literacypro

Reading Horizons
Reading Horizons’ method of teaching the English language has been used in homes and schools across the country for more than 30 years. The Reading Horizons Elevate® reading intervention program helps English language learners (ELLs) in grades four and above understand the patterns and structure of the English language through clear, research-based reading curriculum. Translations are offered in Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese, and the pronunciation tool helps ELLs master each sound of the English language. The company also offers the Reading Horizons Discovery® curriculum, which helps ELLs in grades K–3 understand the patterns and structure of the English language through clear, research-based instruction.
www.ReadingHorizons.com

OverDrive Education
OverDrive Education is a leading digital reading platform for K–12 schools, offering a large catalog of e-books and audiobooks in more than 100 languages. Serving over 30,000 schools worldwide, it supports learning and reading in the K–12 classroom, the library, and the home on all major devices. Sora, the student reading app, was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019. The Sora interface is available in ten languages to give more students the opportunity to fall in love with reading through the extensive catalog of native and translated world language titles.
https://company.overdrive.com/k-12-schools

Elite Language Students Focus on Community Service

Even during these challenging times, language students contribute to the greater good. I recently attended (via Zoom, of course) the award ceremony of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispáncia (SHH). The SHH is the nationally recognized honor society for Spanish and Portuguese high school students. It is part of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). The honor society challenges outstanding secondary students to do more than celebrate their superior grades with somber ceremonies. The SHH encourages students to combine academic prowess, community service, and their passion for language learning. The result is unparalleled student engagement that focuses on improving the lives of others.

With nearly 3,000 active chapters, the SHH is led by arguably the most talented and dedicated Spanish and Portuguese teachers worldwide. In 2019, there were over 70,000 students in SHH chapters.

The SHH supports the community through fundraisers, literacy projects, and more. During the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020, the SHH students of the Weber School in Atlanta, GA, pivoted from a live Fun Run to a virtual event. The fundraiser supported a local nonprofit called Los Niños Primero that provides free preschool for underserved Latino children. Spanish teacher Olivia Rocamora and the students of the Los Filosefarditos chapter worked to host the Amigos Virtual Fun Run. Spanish students raised nearly $10,000. Rocamora explained that during a typical year, the SHH students designate the funds to a classroom improvement project. This year, the students elected to help pay the rent of families whom the nonprofit serves because 80% of them lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

Spanish teacher Alondra Pacheco, sponsor of the Aura chapter at University School in Hunting Valley, OH, speaks proudly of her students. They found a solution to serve the community despite public health restrictions and recorded themselves reading books in Spanish for Spanish-speaking children to listen to during the pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, the students taught Spanish to a group of senior citizens at the local library. They also participated in a meal program that served mostly Latinos at a local Ronald McDonald House.

Before social distancing was the norm, Spanish teacher Lila Casillas engaged her students in several community service projects. Casillas is the sponsor of the Dr. Juliet V. García chapter at Brownsville Early College High School in Brownsville, TX. The Spanish students raised $3,000 to protect the turtles on South Padre Island and participated in beach cleanup. The honor society students also prepared meals in an underserved, mostly Latino community where they had the opportunity to speak Spanish while assisting others.

Early in 2020, other efforts to serve the community included SHH students and Spanish teachers T. J. Troche and Cassandra Johnston, sponsors of the Gabriel García Márquez chapter at Las Vegas Academy of the Arts in Las Vegas, NV. Working with the Refugee Health Alliance, students put together boxes of medical and hygiene supplies for refugees in need on the southern border of the U.S.

Among Spanish teachers, it is not usual to see queries on Facebook like the one from Spanish teacher Amanda Sue DeSimone, sponsor of the Águilas de la Mancha chapter at V. R. Eaton High School, Fort Worth, TX. She wrote: “How are you doing community service hours in your honor society?” Several Spanish teachers answered by stating that their students are providing virtual tutoring sessions organized by advanced Spanish students for younger learners at a nearby school. AATSP president-elect Maritza Sloan, sponsor of the Los Carneros de Ladue chapter at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, St. Louis, MO, posted that her students are tutoring children from villages in rural areas in Costa Rica via Zoom.

Honor societies such as the SHH are incubators for high-achieving language students to excel in real-world contexts. While many SHH projects are short lived, community service encourages students to go on to consider problems and solutions on a larger scale. Such experiences help build leadership and language skills. SHH students demonstrate how to apply concepts beyond the traditional language classroom with the guidance of outstanding teachers. Tenacity and the creative spirit of the SHH chapters continue to serve others even during the global pandemic. These efforts underscore the unique relationship of language learners and communities. The SHH students and teacher-sponsors truly embody the AATSP motto: ¡Todos a una! ¡Todos por um! All for one and one for all!

Sheri Spaine Long, AATSP Executive Director
To learn more about the SHH, go to www.aatspshh.org/ or contact SHH director Kelly Scheetz at [email protected].

Avant Integrates Test Data and Expands Proctoring

The State and Global Seals of Biliteracy have highlighted literacy as a critical skill for both heritage and second language (L2) learners. Language learners seeking a seal must demonstrate proficiency through testing in all four domains in both English and a second language.

This focus on literacy in LOTE (languages other than English), whether for heritage or L2 learners, when supported by valid test data raises the status of LOTE programs. Avant’s STAMPTM test is research-based with the latest computer-adaptive technology generating data to verify literacy levels. However, it must be able to integrate with school learning management and data systems to be taken seriously by administrators. Avant took the first step in enabling STAMP data to integrate with every school information system by finalizing integration with Clever in September. This allows 95 of the top 100 school districts to integrate STAMP data into their data systems. Avant is now working on Canvas so that they can integrate with nearly 50% of college systems. They plan to continue until they can integrate with every school and college in the country.

During COVID, delivering STAMP in a secure, user-friendly remote-proctoring system is critical for Avant’s educational partners. Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD uses STAMP to place heritage Spanish students in upper-level Spanish courses and award credit by exam that students often need to graduate. As Kathryn Schaeffer, executive director of advanced academic services and world languages at Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, stated, “During the COVID crisis, we reached out to Avant to ensure that our ‘hardest to graduate’ students could earn world language credits using virtual proctoring. Avant’s immediate response allowed each student to graduate on time. Avant’s swift creation of an online-proctored exam was extremely timely.” Now Avant has developed an improved system allowing educators or Avant proctors to conduct secure remote proctoring that is user-friendly, affordable, and Chromebook compatible.
www.avantassessment.com

And Justice for ELs

And Justice for ELs is an essential resource for school leaders. Ayanna Cooper, editor of Language Magazine’s Pass the Mic series and a former U.S. Department of State English language specialist, has “been there, done that” and is now sharing how best to translate today’s federal mandates into actionable steps for ensuring the civil rights of our nation’s multilingual learners.

Because it is impossible to provide specific advice or guidance for every possible situation, the book focuses on the “need-to-knows” for making informed decisions, including:

  • Eight questions you must ask—and how to obtain answers—before planning English language development services
  • The most common EL program models, with special emphasis on scheduling, along with specific challenges and appropriate staffing
  • The why and how of evaluating English language education, regardless of the evaluation tool, and ways to facilitate conversations with teachers before and after observation
  • How to determine the type of professional learning that will have the greatest impact in your unique context
  • Recommendations for establishing productive relationships with linguistically diverse families and communities
  • Just about every tool you could possibly need, including a glossary of acronyms, useful advocacy organizations, and templates for supporting professional learning

Every chapter is framed around a “what would you do?” scenario, for which Dr. Cooper ultimately provides an answer or answers, as well as guiding questions to help you think through the issues.
“And Justice for ELs is an excellent guide for practitioners who seek to provide their English learners with high-quality instruction in all subject areas. Too often such students are relegated to an education that marginalizes them academically and fails to develop their native language skills. We can and must do a better job for these students, and in this book Ayanna Cooper shows us how,” comments Pedro A. Noguera.
https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/and-justice-for-els/book270498

Bill to Support Distance and Blended Learning for Children in Need

Infants and young children have brains with a superpower, according to Georgetown University Medical Center neuroscientists, who found that unlike adults, who use specific areas in one or the other of their brain’s two hemispheres to process most discrete neural tasks, young children use both the right and left hemispheres to do the same task. This may explain why children generally recover from neural injury much better than adults.

U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) have announced their plan to introduce the Learning Opportunity and Achievement Act (LOAA), which would “improve distance and blended learning in U.S. public schools during the coronavirus pandemic.” LOAA is intended to combat instructional loss, particularly for at-risk and marginalized students, by providing support for professional development and training programs for teachers, tutoring and academic services, research and best practices, and other initiatives to enhance equity and access for all students.
The bill would provide funding to address instructional loss for at-risk and marginalized students, including English learners, low-income students, minority students, migratory students, children with disabilities, homeless children and youth, and children or youth in foster care.

Specifically, LOAA would provide the following resources:

  • $2.25 billion in formula grants for ESSA professional development and training programs (Sec. 5)
  • $100 million in competitive grants for states and school districts, working with K–12 schools, colleges and universities, national organizations, and community-based organizations (including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian organizations), to develop training programs (Sec. 7)
  • $50 million in competitive grants for states to provide supplemental professional development for educators, paraprofessionals, specialized instructional support personnel, and school leaders, focused on distance and hybrid learning models (Sec. 6)
  • $50 million in grants for states and school districts, working with K–12 schools, colleges and universities, national organizations, and community-based organizations, to provide tutoring services for at-risk and marginalized students (defined as low-income students, minority students, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, homeless students, and foster youth) and Native students (Sec. 8)
  • $25 million in grants for school districts to support educators, paraprofessionals, specialized instructional support personnel, and school leaders with innovative ideas to improve distance learning, especially for at-risk students and Native students (Sec. 9)
  • $25 million in grants to support on-campus “learning hubs” for at-risk students and Native students with limited access to broadband and devices


LOAA would also require the U.S. Department of Education, through the Institute of Education Sciences, to conduct research and identify and disseminate best practices for addressing instructional loss due to COVID-19—especially for at-risk and marginalized students.

The bill has received broad support from national and local organizations, including the Joint National Committee for Languages, whose policy director, Alissa Rutkowski, commented, “This bill provides a crucial initial step in ensuring equitable and quality educational opportunities for students facing a higher risk of instructional loss, including and especially the five million students who speak a language other than English and the educators and professionals who serve them.”

At this time, a date has not been set for the bill’s introduction to the Senate, and it remains to be seen if it will become part of the latest stimulus package.

New Bipartisan Native American Language Bill

On October 30, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Native American Languages Act (NALA) with the announcement of new bipartisan legislation, the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2020, to ensure the federal government is living up to policies and principles set out in NALA three decades ago.

The short documentary “Durbin Feeling: Language Is Everything” honors the Cherokee linguist after whom the legislation is named.

The NALA, which was led by Senators Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) was enacted on October 30, 1990. For the first time in U.S. history, federal law formally rejected past policies that sought to suppress use of Native American languages and recognized the rights and freedoms of Native Americans to use their traditional languages. 

The new bill announced by Udall is named after Durbin Feeling, a renowned Cherokee linguist and Vietnam veteran who passed away on August 19, 2020. It would direct the president to review federal agencies’ compliance with NALA requirements and make recommendations to improve interagency coordination in support of Native American languages. It will also authorize a federal survey of Native language use and language revitalization program unmet needs every five years. These surveys will serve as “health checks” to allow Native communities and Congress to improve targeting of federal resources for Native American languages.

“Native languages hold within them the culture, history, and resiliency of their communities. Over the last 30 years, catalyzed by the Native American Languages Act, Congress has promoted the protection and revitalization of Native languages,” said Udall. “Throughout my congressional career, I have worked to support these language revitalization efforts. And, today, I am proud to mark this important anniversary by announcing a new bipartisan bill, the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2020, to hold the federal government accountable for its work to live up to the policies and principles set out in the Native American Languages Act over three decades ago. Congress must continue to do its part to support the advancement of community-driven Native language use and revitalization.”

“Native languages are integral to culture and identity. When the Native American Language Act or NALA was signed into law in 1990—a bill my father worked on over 20 years ago—the purpose was to promote and protect the rights of Native people to use and maintain their Native languages. Today, we continue to work to ensure that our federal agencies are meeting the expectations of that legislation. Our bill will ensure that policies and procedures are compliant with NALA, improve interagency coordination, authorize funding to help gain a greater understanding of Native languages, and more,” said Senator Murkowski. “I remain committed to maintaining and revitalizing the languages of Alaska’s Native peoples to help strengthen and empower their communities for generations to come.” 

The bill is supported by the Joint National Committee for Languages, the National Council for Languages and International Studies, the National Congress of American Indians, the National Indian Education Association, the National Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs, and the Cherokee Nation. 

“Our Native languages are an essential part of our identities and are critical to the survival of our cultural and political integrity,” said Fawn Sharp, President of the National Congress of American Indians. “The Durbin Feeling Native American Language Act of 2020 will help ensure Native languages continue to be spoken for generations to come by assessing the current landscape of our Native languages and producing critically important information regarding language vitality, types of language maintenance and revitalization projects currently being carried out, and information on unmet needs pertaining to Native language programming.” 

“The Cherokee Nation is honored to strongly support the Durbin Feeling Native American Language Act of 2020,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. “Durbin Feeling was the largest contributor to the Cherokee language since Sequoyah. For decades, Durbin led the effort to not only save and preserve the Cherokee language, but breathe new life into the Cherokee language. He was a tireless advocate for Native language and revitalization efforts, and no one is more worthy of this honor than Durbin Feeling. His generosity to the Cherokee people and his unwavering commitment to Cherokee language perpetuation will be the foundation upon which we teach future generations to honor and carry on our traditions.”

Google Limits Advertising to 49 Languages

Starting in November 2020, Google will not allow new websites and apps to use Google Ads, if the site is not in one of its 49 supported languages, over half of which are European. Then, starting April 2021, even websites and apps which were previously approved, but are not in one of the supported languages, will not be able to be earn revenue with Google ads.

The list of 49 approved languages includes 27 European languages, around 20 Asian languages, but no indigenous African or American languages. The world’s largest ad network will also stop serving ads on pages “that do not contain content.”

The new policy, if imposed strictly, could reduce online linguistic diversity. Thousands of websites in unsupported languages currently depend on Google’s ad networks to fund the creation of content, including news and entertainment. For example, although eight Indian languages (Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, and Marathi) are supported, several other widely spoken Indian languages are not, including Punjabi, which is spoken by over 100 million people worldwide, and Sinhala, spoken by tens of millions of people.

Google has never actually permitted the use of its ad networks on websites in unsupported languages, but it had not enforced blocking such sites out of the system aggressively. Some websites in unsupported languages have overcome the problem by enabling Google Adsense to serve ads through a summary of content in a language that the bots understand, usually English. Some webmasters will likely offer bilingual content to circumvent the prohibition.

This list of Google supported languages may be updated and it can be found here.

Applications for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards Due Nov. 10

In this time of disruption due to COVID-19, it’s more important than ever to celebrate young people making a difference through volunteer service.

Today through November 10, Prudential Financial and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) are calling on youth volunteers in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia to apply for scholarships and national recognition through The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.

Students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for 2021 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteering within the past 12 months — virtually or otherwise. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com.

“More than 25 years ago, we founded The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards to honor young volunteers working to meet the needs of our changing world — a mission that feels especially timely today,” said Charles Lowrey, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. “As life evolves due to COVID-19, young Americans are continuing to address urgent issues facing their communities, and we celebrate their service in hopes that they’ll inspire others to do the same.”

“While this is one of the most unusual times in recent history for American students, we know that young volunteers have a long history of rising to the challenges of the moment,” said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director and CEO of NASSP. “Today through November 10, we call on parents, educators and local leaders to join us in celebrating the young volunteers who are innovating and adapting to serve their communities, and setting an important example for their peers in the process.”

How to Apply

To apply for a 2021 Prudential Spirit of Community Award, students and certifiers must complete the following steps:

  • Students complete the online application by November 10, 2020.
  • Then, students submit the application for certification to their principal or head of a local participating organization.

Certifiers review all applications for their school or organization, then select a Local Honoree to nominate for state-level judging by November 20, 2020.

Applications can be certified by a middle or high school principal or head of a Girl Scout council, county 4-H organization, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or a Points of Light Global Network member.

The 2021 Awards Program

In February, the top middle level and high school volunteer from each state and the District of Columbia will be named State Honorees. They will receive a $1,000 scholarship, engraved silver medallions and an invitation to the program’s national recognition events in May.

During the national recognition events, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America’s top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional $5,000 scholarships, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 Prudential grants for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice.

Several Distinguished Finalists in each state will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. Local Honorees selected by schools and participating organizations for state-level judging will be presented with Certificates of Achievement and, if they have served the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify, President’s Volunteer Service Awards.

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