THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: Danville High School senior Ginyisia Vander-Austin has won the Billy Michal Student Leadership Award. The National WWII Museum in New Orleans chooses one student per state with outstanding community service leadership.
DANVILLE — Danville senior Ginyisia Vander-Austin’s goal was to leave her beloved high school better than when she first started as a freshman.
After finding a new sponsor to restart the Black Student Union, starting a youth chapter of the NAACP and now getting the chance to represent the state and put Danville on the map at an event later this month in New Orleans where she’s accepting a leadership award, she feels she’s done her part.
The 17-year-old is a “really special young lady,” said Lori Woods, who teaches college-readiness seminars at Danville, sponsors the Future Problem Solvers group and student council, and serves as a freshman and senior class adviser.
Vander-Austin was chosen as Illinois’ honoree for the National World War II Museum’s Billy Michal Student Leadership Award, given to one eighth-through-12th-grade student in each state who demonstrates outstanding community-service leadership.
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