The year’s second Youth Extra Effort Award recipient was honored last night prior to the Galesburg City Council Meeting.
Sarah Wallenfelsz, a 15 year old Galesburg High School sophomore was honored by Mayor John Pritchard with a proclamation behalf of the city for her volunteer service for the Galesburg Public Library.
Wallenfelsz began as a sixth grader on the Library’s Teen Advisory Board, a group of 6th to 12th graders who meet monthly to plan teen programs and services for the library.
Additionally, she is a founding member of the Library’s High School Action Committee, a group designed to get students more involved in the community through library participation.
Wallenfelsz admits she initially went to the Teen Advisory Board because her mom made her but soon she was attending on her own will.
“I really like all the people there and they’ve helped me so I thought hey, I should help them back,” Wallenfelsz says. “And I love reading new books just because I like reading and immersing myself in all these people’s lives.”
Wallenfelsz tells WGIL she loves to read and loves to encourage others to read, evidenced by her work with the library’s summer reading program.
“It feels really good to be acknowledged for all my volunteer efforts,” Wallenfelsz says.
She is planning on attending college and at this point considering majoring in biology.
