PRESS
RELEASE
310.450.8338, ext. 229 04 December 2007
SMMUSD Student Receives
‘Hero’ Award from CNN
Josh Miller, a senior at Santa Monica High
School, has been selected to receive CNN’s Hero award for his efforts to help
students of all backgrounds succeed academically and in life. He and the other winners will be honored
during a live global telecast on CNN on Thursday, December 6th,
at 6:00pm PT. The show will be
hosted by Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour.
In its first ever “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” CNN
will be honoring ordinary individuals from six different categories who have
accomplished extraordinary missions.
The categories included Medical Marvel, Young Wonder, Championing
Children, Community Crusader, Defending the Planet, and Fighting for Justice.
Josh Miller has been selected as CNN’s “Young Wonder” Hero,
an award given for outstanding achievement by a person under the age of 18.
Josh, who has always been interested in making positive
changes, was inspired to establish the Resilient Youth Foundation after his
friend Eddie Lopez was killed in a drive-by shooting. The foundation is a student-run non-profit group whose goal is to
motivate all students to achieve and excel.
Josh established a scholarship program that recognizes students who
demonstrate academic excellence. He
produced a documentary and created a program called “Rewards for Results,” in
which at-risk middle schools students are rewarded for improving their
grades. As a result of Josh’s efforts,
more than 700 students have improved their GPAs, work ethic, and
citizenship. Also, five students have
received the Eddie Lopez scholarship.
“He’s a great guy and quite inspirational,” said Shane
McLoud, a teacher who worked with Josh at one of the inner city schools and a
former SMMUSD Board of Education member.
“Josh is a shining example of how one person has the ability
to create real and positive change,” commented Superintendent Dianne
Talarico. “We should all be inspired by
what Josh has accomplished by the age of 17.”
From May through September of 2007, CNN received over 7,000
nominations from viewers in 80 countries.
From this enormous list of nominees, eighteen finalists were
selected. A Blue Ribbon Panel,
consisting of famous activists, actors, world and business leaders, and
humanitarians, then selected the finalists for each category. For a full list of the Blue Ribbon Panel
members, visit http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/26/heroes.blue.ribbon.panel/.
For more information regarding the CNN Heroes award and the
honorees and finalists, visit http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/cnn.heroes/.
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SANTA
MONICA-MALIBU UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
1651 16TH
Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404
ph:
310.450.8338; fax: 310.581.1138
www.smmusd.org