SAN DIEGO–The San Diego Public Defender’s Office honored local teens for their accomplishments in 25 categories including civic involvement, leadership, arts and culture, technology and courage to overcome adversity.
The awards are called the Most Remarkable Teen and were coordinated by the Public Defender’s Office and the San Diego County Public Defender Youth Council, a team of civically engaged middle and high school students developing and working on projects that will make a difference in their schools and communities.
The Most Remarkable Teens were presented with the awards Friday at the San Diego Central Library. The program recognizes San Diego youth, ages 13 to 19, for their contributions and efforts. They were all nominated by the community.
“We are excited to bring this program to San Diego and thrilled by the community response and the 201 nominations our office received from throughout the county,” San Diego County Public Defender Randy Mize said. “It was difficult choosing just 25 from so many amazing kids, but it was also encouraging to learn that San Diegans want to talk about the good things San Diego teens are doing. And that is a good conversation to have in itself.”
San Diego County Supervisors Nathan Fletcher and Kristin Gaspar and San Diego City Councilmembers Barbara Bry and Monica Montgomery presented the awards to the 25 teens.
All nominees interviewed received a certificate of recognition from the Public Defender for the honor of being nominated from among the thousands of San Diego youth.
The 25 students are: Endiya Griffin, San Diego Metropolitan High School; Matthew Campos, Valhalla High School; Julia Sarnoff Espinosa, Del Lago Academy; Sonyon Kim, Canyon Crest Academy; Miguel Aldrete, San Diego State University; Habon Hassan at Crawford High School; Emily Hada, Mount Miguel High School; Antonyio Powell, San Diego City College; Syria Myers, Monarch School; Hannah Lopez-Powers, San Diego High School; Angelo Salazar, Patrick Henry High School; Kieler Muller, Bonita Vista Middle School; John Finkelman, Canyon Crest Academy; Karolyn Curtis, Morse High School; Mel Deorsola, Point Loma High School; Cindy Maldonado, Orange Glen High School; Sidney Adame, San Marcos High School; Santiago Lopez, Ideate High School; Enrique Gonzalez, King Chavez Community School; Crystal Sung, Classical Academy High School; Emily Pilkington, University City High School; Azareel Canizales, La Jolla High School; Phonisha Pruitt, Lincoln High School; Tha Dah Say, e3civic High Charter School, and Payton Smith, Muirlands Middle School.
