Hillsborough County Commission accepting YEA! Award nominations

The Hillsborough County Commission is accepting nominations for its YEA! Award through September 12th. 

YEA, which stands for Youth Excellence and Achievement, recognizes middle and high school students in Hillsborough for leadership, volunteering and community service, or overcoming challenges to succeed. Recipients get a medal and a new laptop computer during a ceremony before the Hillsborough County Commission. 

Jayen Patel, 16, now a senior in the International Baccalaureate program at Hillsborough High School, received last year’s high school award for volunteering and community service.

“I’ve been really involved in civic engagement and in the local community, and it’s super important to me, and receiving the YEA! Award just reinforced that belief of how important it is to give access to the community, to improve the community and to support it and uplift it,’’ he says.

“And the YEA! Award even propelled me to commit myself more to volunteering,” Jayen adds. “It has been and will be one of my highest priorities even throughout my career.’’

Jayen put together a free program at Hillsborough Education Foundation that offers a lending library of materials teachers can check out, including kits to help teachers of STEAM courses – science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

Jayen says he enhanced the kits by aligning them with the Florida state science standards. For example, one kit for elementary school students involves racing Lego cars down ramps. The students measure how far their cars travel and create graphs.

“So I kind of made it more full and rewarding for the teachers to take out these kits and bring them to the classroom because they were fulfilling more science standards for the kids,’’ he says.

For other kits, he ordered 12 chess sets through the Hillsborough Education Foundation so elementary students could learn the game of strategy.

Established by the Hillsborough County Commission in 2010, the annual YEA!
Award goes to a middle school student and a high school student in each of three categories:

• Leadership: rewards using skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity to lead others academically, in extracurricular programs, or service to the community.

• Success despite difficult odds: for students who have “persevered through challenges to make a positive impact on others,’’ according to the entry instructions.

• Volunteer or Community Service: for students who have “dedicated substantial time to serving their community.’’

Jayen donated the laptop he received during the awards ceremony in the Hillsborough County Commission chambers to the Hillsborough Education Foundation.

“They have a digital equity program where they give out devices and computers to children who are really in need of those and may not have those resources,’’ he says.

Jayen hasn’t decided on a college or career yet. He continues to volunteer at the Hillsborough Education Foundation. He recalls cold-calling the foundation during the summer before 10th grade looking for volunteer opportunities. Kristen Hendrickson, the foundation’s teaching tools resource center coordinator, picked up the phone.

“She was so receptive, so open, and we set up a meeting for me to come in and tour the education foundation, and from there it took off,’’ he says. “I kept coming back and I couldn’t get enough of it.’’

For more information or to nominate a student, go to YEA! Award