Altamont junior Amrita Lakhanpal wins national, regional awards for philanthropic work

On April 9, at an assembly held in the Cabaniss-Kaul Center for the Arts, Tonya Brown of the Prudential Corporation presented Altamont Junior Amrita Lakhanpal with a Prudential Spirit of Community Distinguished Finalist Award. This award recognized Amrita for her work with EPIC Elementary, where she raised enough money to buy more than 60 Chromebooks and taught computer coding classes.

Spirit of Community Award recipients are chosen by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals. The award honors young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. This nationwide program, now in its 23rd year, considers thousands of students each year and only selects a handful of recipients from each state. Amrita is one of only six students in Alabama to be recognized with this award this year.

At a ceremony held at The Club in Birmingham on April 17, Amrita was presented with the United Way of Central Alabama Ignite Student Volunteer of the Year award for her work with EPIC. The Ignite award recognizes students who have exemplified commitment and enthusiasm, and who have served as an example of a volunteer student leader among their peers.

-Submitted by Julie Beckwith