Mayor John Gates presented Luluya Tekle with the 2024 National Youth Service Day Award at the Greeley city council meeting on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The Greeley Youth Commission presented Tekle with a plaque and a $1,000 scholarship check for her volunteer efforts. Tekle is an 18-year-old senior at Greeley Central High School.
Nomination
Hannah Woerner, with the organization The Greeley Dream Team, nominated Luluya Tekle. In the nomination application, Woerner said Tekle “is one of the most involved and passionate students I have ever met.”
Volunteer Efforts
Tekle is an exceptional volunteer, completing 658 hours of community service during her senior year.
“She is the president of Central High School’s Best Buddies program, is a Student Health Advisory Council (SHAC) representative, has organized fundraisers for sickle cell anemia during Black History Month, is a pillar of the yearbook, does social media management for the boys’ basketball team and participates in Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), FoodBytes for Weld County School District 6, Key Club, Student Equity Team, HerStory and National Honor Society. In these activities and volunteer experiences, Tekle gives her all.”
Organizations Tekle volunteered for:
- SHAC (50 hours)
- Key Club (100 hours)
- Student Council (100 hours)
- Black History Month project (60 hours)
- Make Kindness a Habit project (15 hours)
- Best Buddies (40 hours)
- National Honors Society (65 hours)
- Student Equity Team (20 hours)
- Youth leadership (8 hours)
- HerStory (18 hours)
- Upward Bound (30 hours)
- Mural Bike Lane (5 hours)
- FoodBytes for WCSD6 (5 hours)
- Council of Student Representatives (15 hours)
- FBLA (15 hours)
- Cultural Assembly (40 hours)
- CASB Conference (72 hours)
“In addition to her service through external sources, Tekle has also generated her circumstances for service,” Woerner says. “Tekle learned a second language and understands feeling left out of the mainstream. She met with the secretary of education and board members from around Colorado to learn how she could improve her school.”
“She is passionate about photography, opened her own business and uses her skills to take free photos for seniors who cannot afford to pay for them. She has already worked to create massive change in her community.”
Tekle is also the recipient of the prestigious Boettcher Foundation scholarship, per a District 6 news release dated April 2.