Fourteen-year-old
Kyle Sottoriva of Carlinville, IL, said his mission trip
this summer to Galveston, TX, for hurricane relief repair
was the most vivid experience of his life.
The Carlinville High School freshman has a strong interest
in helping others. Among his other helping experiences are
sandbag duty along the nearby flooding Illinois River and
regular work at the local food pantry.
Kyle
Sottoriva |
For this community service, along with strong academic
accomplishments and extra- curricular activities, Kyle was
named a 2009 Gateway Young Achiever. With the honor includes
a $1,000 scholarship and a chance for national YA honors.
(Young
Saint Louis.com has followed the Gateway Young Achiever
program for several years. In addition to coverage of the
awards breakfast each spring, YSL.com publishes individual
profiles of elementary and middle school winners.
(This is the 5th of seven profiles of 2009 winners,
two more to follow. To read earlier profiles, click on Past
Stories and go to June,
July,
August
and September,
2009, editions.)
Galveston
after Hurricane Ike |
Hurricane Katrina's collapsing of the New Orleans's levees
attracted more media attention than the earlier strike by
Hurricane Ike. But, that Galveston's devastation has lingered
on.
This summer, Kyle was among a disaster-relief crew from
his church that went to continue the comeback efforts in
that coastal city. His family belongs to the Saints Mary
and Joseph Catholic Church.
Most of his work was focused on repairing and refinishing
a two-story family home. The work included interior repair
as well as repainting the entire exterior.
The Carlinville crew was in Galveston for an entire week.
Kyle said the trip was the most interesting of his life
because "I felt that I was doing something to help others."
About volunteer work, he said, "I like helping people,
both kids and adults."
He said his work along the flooding Illinois River was
disaster relief done while the stormy weather was still
in progress. In that case, he and others were trying to
minimize the damage from the flooding.
Kyle is involved in other volunteer service on a regular
basis.
One Saturday a month, he works with other members of his
Boy Scout troop at the Carlinville food pantry. He transfers
food from donating companies to the pantry and then boxes
the food for individual families.
Then, each summer, he volunteers at his church's Vacation
Bible School. He's part of the drama team and acts in skits
for children attending VBS.
He's a patrol leader in his Boy Scout troop. Each patrol
leader heads up a group of six or seven other scouts. He
and other patrol leaders are responsible for keeping other
members of their patrol informed and leading them when there
are group activities.
Kyle is a Life Scout and expects to qualify for his Eagle
Scout badge sometime within the next year. He said he was
excited about being in the scouting program.
Last year, he was also co-president of the Carlinville
Middle School Student Council. Already this fall, he's been
named vice-president of the 9th grade at Carlinville High
School.
He was a section leader of the Middle School band last
year and already has played at a football game as part of
the high school marching band. He plays the saxophone.
Kyle was on the honor roll during each semester of middle
school. He had a 4.0 grade point in all semesters but one.
That was in 6th grade where he ended with one B+ instead
of all As.
His school accomplishments extended back into elementary
grades as well.
Kyle
at Space Camp |
He won a chance to represent his 5th grade class at the
U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, AL. In winning the award,
he created a PowerPoint presentation, wrote an essay and
was given a personal interview.
In 4th grade, Kyle established a school record in the Accelerated
Reading Program that still stands. That program measures
not only the volume of reading but how kids do on a post-test
to show how much information they retained.
For instance, after reading one of the longer Harry Potter
books, he got a perfect score on the content test.
As an 8th grader, Kyle was one of two kids from his school
to attend a technology conference in the state capitol of
Springfield, IL. He presented an original photo-story to
Illinois State Senators.
About 100 schools were represented at the conference.
Kyle
in his football jersey |
Kyle has been active in sports. He competed in the shot
put and discus throw in middle school.
In football, he was an interior lineman. He's a center
on offense and a tackle on defense and is already on the
freshman team.
He said he already had participated in a "revenge" victory.
He said, when he was in middle school, his team was beaten
by a team from Vandalia. However, at the start of the freshman
team's season, his school beat the Vandalia frosh.
In a letter of recommendation for the Young Achiever competition,
teacher Cathy Pohlman said, "As a student with outstanding
academic ability, Kyle has demonstrated wonderful leadership
skills. Students listen to him and trust him."
Kyle said he hopes to go to Notre Dame University. He wants
a career as an audiologist.
