In high school, Sabrina Grandhi got involved with the Interact Club, a service organization at Centerville High School in Dayton, Ohio. When the club realized that students at nearby Eastmont Elementary School didn’t own a single book, Sabrina and the group decided on a book drive to get the community to donate books.

Getting Books into the Hands of Kids

Sabrina and her fellow club members set up 200 collection boxes throughout the community and collected more than 3,000 books. Then they delivered the books in person and even read to groups of students.

A Place They Could Escape Into

“We were overwhelmed,” Sabrina told the Dayton Daily News. “The students had huge smiles on their faces. They had something that was theirs that they could escape into.”

For her hard work and leadership, Sabrina was awarded this year’s Community Service Award by the Washington Township Board of Trustees. “Sabrina is a young woman who will have a positive impact on society. She is highly motivated, conscientious, personable, and sincere,” said Teresa Lonsbury, a guidance counselor at Centerville High who coordinates the award with the township.

Above and Beyond . . .

Sabrina, a member of the National Honor Society and the Asian American Youth Council, did more than 400 hours of community service during high school. She took part in 34 different volunteer activities.

Finding Opportunities to Volunteer

“I’ve not only been surrounded by a family but by a village,” she said. “It was with my Indian community that I started volunteering. It got me on the right path and then I started finding opportunities for myself,” she said.

After high school, she left for the University of Virginia where she plans to study biomedical engineering.

Read about another teen who gives back to his community by sharing his love of reading with kids.

Photo © Dayton Daily News