Katherine Amigo, an eighth grade student at Community Middle School, received the Prudential Spirit of Community Award as the top New Jersey middle school volunteer for 2007. The nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism awarded Amigo after she coordinated a 14-member performance band to raise money for worthy causes and encouraged other students to get involved in volunteering.##M:[more]##
Attending the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics in New Jersey several years ago changed her life. “Recognizing that I was blessed with dance, academic, and musical abilities, I felt the need to help those who did not have the same opportunities due to physical, mental, or intellectual challenges,” she says.
Born in New York City, she has lived in West Windsor for eight years with her parents, Luis and Parisa. They have been involved in Special Olympics for several years as a family. Luis, a banker in New York City, also does volunteer work for Smile Train. Parisa, a physician at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, also volunteers with the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
The News reported on Amigo when she was a first time volunteer at the New Jersey Special Olympics in 2005. At that time she assisted with aquatics and softball. “Last year Katie was very moved at the opening parade and we encouraged her to become involved,” said her father in 2005. “It is very touching and it is just fantastic to see the kids be so proud of themselves.”
As she began to volunteer, she realized that many of her friends who worked with her also had musical talent. That led to the idea of putting together a fundraising band. The Just a Chance Band is named for all of the kids who are given a chance to succeed by Special Olympics.
“I chose the name Just A Chance because I noticed that after my friends began to volunteer they wanted to do more,” she says. “They just needed an invitation or a chance to get involved. The name was also inspired from those in need or who didn’t have the opportunities we had, so I hope that in our own small way Just A Chance Band could help them get their chance by raising funds through music.”
After selecting 14 students to play in the band, she planned a concert to benefit Special Olympics. She reserved her school’s auditorium, developed musical arrangements for the band, and conducted rehearsals at her house during a three-month period. Then she produced flyers and invitations to publicize the concert, designed a printed program, and produced banners and props for the performance. She obtained donations from area businesses including McCaffrey’s Market, Steve’s Water Ice, TG Lawn Service, and several of her mother’s co-workers. The concert raised $2,”000. Four months later she coordinated a variety show at school featuring her band, which raised $1,”300 for the March of Dimes. The band also performed at the March of Dimes kick-off in January.
Her guidance counselor, Lynn Fisher, and principal, Arthur Downs, nominated her for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award. “I didn’t know anything about the award so I was happy that they thought of me,” she says.
Amigo, 13, will be honored with a Prudential Spirit of Community silver medallion and a $1,”000 award. She will also receive the President’s Volunteer Service Award and will receive a certificate and letter from President Bush. All of the 51 middle school state honorees will be recognized during the four-day trip, and five will be selected as national honorees. Her parents will accompany her on the trip.
“I am grateful to my family and school for their encouragement, the charities we support for their inspiration, and especially to my bandmates for their commitment and friendship,” she says.
Katherine, in her sixth year of piano at Westminster Conservatory, currently studies with Megan Register. After studying ballet at Princeton Ballet School for five years, she is in her first year at Princeton Dance and Theater Studio. At school, Amigo is also in the school choir and the AMIGOS club, a longstanding service organization at the school.
“In high school we hope to organize field festivals and invite organizations that help disadvantaged youth and groups who mentor kids,” she says. “We also want to organize dance-a-thons and more benefit concerts and get more students involved in volunteering.”
Just a Chance will perform on Friday, April 13, from 6 to 8 p.m., at a benefit for Ryan’s Well Foundation (www.ryanswell.ca), as part of a fundraiser organized by social studies teachers, Deborah Kline and Maria Pyle. The event also includes a pasta dinner and auction. The band will also perform for SONJ on Sunday, April 29. Amigo will volunteer at March of Dimes Walk America in the spring.
“I really hope to expand the group and interest more students to volunteer, it was meaningful to them,” she says. My motto is ‘Volunteer, it’s contagious.’”
