Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990 TAG: 9005300552
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: CHARLES HITE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Favorite food: Pizza. Favorite music group: Milli Vanilli. Favorite sport: soccer. After-school activities: practicing piano and keeping an eye on her 6-year-old twin brother and sister. On Sundays she's an acolyte at St. Philip's Lutheran Church in Troutville.
Scratch a little deeper, though, and Ashley Dillman the volunteer dynamo comes through.
Each week at school, Ashley helps second- and third-grade special education students with reading skills.
She's involved in the little gifts the Red Cross puts on meal trays for elderly hospital patients and nursing home residents.
She organized a fund-raising campaign to pay for food and care for two prairie dogs at Mill Mountain Zoo.
She's gone classroom-to-classroom to warn students about the dangers of drunken driving.
She joined with other students at Troutville Elementary to get together a truckload of food, clothing and toys for victims of Hurricane Hugo.
As president of her school's student government association, she pumps up school spirit and encourages others to participate in school activities.
"She's a real organizer," says Sandra Tunnell, her elementary school principal. "She really gets things done. But she does it in a way that people don't always see what she's doing. She doesn't draw attention to herself."
Ashley, the daughter of Rodney and Jacqueline Dillman of Troutville, will be getting national attention next month. She's one of 40 students, representing 38 states and the District of Columbia, who have been chosen to receive the Jefferson Award, an honor designed to recognize excellence in community service and encourage students to consider careers in public service.
In a ceremony today at the Roanoke Municipal Building, Ashley's achievement was lauded by Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylor, who presented the 11-year-old with a key to the city.
The Jefferson awards were established in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Sen. Robert Taft Jr. of Ohio to recognize achievements in five major categories. Past recipients have included Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, auto executive Lee Iacocca, actor Kirk Douglas and astronaut Sally Ride.
This is the first year the awards will be offered to school children.
Weekly Reader, a school newsweekly that circulates to 11 million children, solicited nominations for the award in January.
Ashley's commitment to service activities isn't a passing fancy, says Helen Boothe, Ashley's teacher and the person who nominated her for the award. Ashley has worked with special education students for two years.
"I know she's worked really hard," Boothe says. "Two years in a row. That's very impressive for a person so young. And she's exceptionally responsible."
Ashley says she's looking forward to her trip to Washington next month. The 40 winners will receive an all-expense paid trip to the awards ceremonies on June 18-20, including a cruise on a ship down the Potomac to Mount Vernon.
But Ashley isn't sure that the award necessarily means she'll become a public servant.
One thing she's learned through her activities, Ashley says, is that some people are willing to work hard while others don't seem to want to try.
"The ones that work hard and try - they'll do the best."
by CNB