Dannon Sturn likes to make people’s day.
“I want to be a source of comfort and support in any volunteering setting I am in,” he explained. “If I try my best each day to improve another person’s day, then I feel I have succeeded.”
Sturn was a nominee for the Pete Swensson Outstanding Community Youth Award, which is presented to a Grade 11 or 12 Langley student to recognize athletic achievements, scholastic effort, community involvement and personal qualities.
The award is presented in memory of Pete Swensson, an internationally recognized athlete and the originator of the Langley Walk, and this year’s recipient was Langley Fundamental’s Laura Stead.
Sturn is a 17-year-old, Grade 12 Walnut Grove student who plays both soccer and basketball, and previously, baseball.
He also excels in the classroom, maintaining a 98 per cent average in his courses, and plans on attending UBC in the fall to study applied sciences with a goal of pursuing a career in biomedical engineering.
And his foray into volunteering began with just simple set-up and clean-up at Walnut Grove Secondary.
“I got started volunteering when I realized I gained fulfillment from doing small things, such as helping set up the school gym or helping clean up after an event,” he said.
“I wanted to help on a larger scale so I decided to begin volunteering.”
Since then, he has expanded his volunteer contributions by becoming a ‘volunteen’ who visits with patients at Langley Memorial Hospital, as well as an in-school mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters and as a Gator Quality Ambassador who supports Grade 8 students at school.
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