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03/07/2016 11:00 PMAlina Dess, daughter of Kathleen and Robert Dess and sister of Gabby Dess (a former Youth of the Month winner) was recently honored with the Exchange Club of Madison David Bell Scholarship Award for February 2016 Youth of the Month. The Daniel Hand High School (DHHS) senior was nominated by the DHHS Faculty and completed a competitive application including an essay titled “Responsible Citizenship for a Strong America,” performing outstanding DHHS and community activities, attaining an excellent grade-point average, and demonstrating personal achievements and earning high value awards.
Exchange Club of Madison Youth of the Month and Year Program Chairman David Bell presented Alina Dess with a $200 award and a commemorative plaque. Dess is a high honors student; a member of the National Honor Society, Perspectives, Choices, Peer Advocates, Girl Scouts, Hand Book Club, and Saint Margaret’s Church Choir. She is co-leader of Peer Helpers and was elected secretary her junior and senior year of the Hand Exchange Club Excel Club and vice president and district liaison for the DHHS Rotary Interact Club.
Dess was appointed spotlight manager and gift manager of the DHHS Stage Crew and participates in Life Choices, which collaborates with the Madison Alcohol and Drug Education Coalition. She has earned a varsity épée fencing letter and Coach’s Award, the Saint Michaels’s Book Award, and Rotary Youth Leadership and Arthur Riddle Awards and attended two major conventions: Rotary World Affairs Seminar at Carroll University in Wisconsin and People to People Student Ambassador to Europe.
Dess has applied to Fordham, Brown, Tufts, Northeastern, Villanova, St Michael’s, Drexel, McGill, and UConn as possible choices for her future education.