Every Year since 1996, The Junior League of Greenwich has awarded its Community Service Award to a female high school student who exemplifies the JLG’s mission by demonstrating a passion and commitment to community betterment through volunteerism.

The award is open to girls in grades 9-12 who reside or attend school in Greenwich.  A list of all past award recipients and highlights of their work can be found below.

Applications for this year’s award are open until April 3, 2026

Click Here to Apply Now!

PAST RECIPIENTS

2025 Recipient:

Nora Stern, a 10th grader at Greenwich High School. Nora is deeply involved with causes aligned with her beliefs. In her words: “I am particularly passionate about women’s rights and victim services. But more generally, I believe that every member of our town should have equal access to what they need. To achieve this, I believe we need to get more people aware of and engaged in local issues. I love organizing work, and feel lucky that it seems to come easily to me, especially around issues I care deeply about.”

As a freshman, Nora created the “Learn Before You Leave Event” at Greenwich Library, teaching incoming college freshmen about the dangers that can occur within the first few months of college life. The panel, which she moderated with a partner, featured four professionals who discussed different forms of college campus safety risks. Representatives from Kids in Crisis, The Rowan Center, Fordham Emergency Medical Services, and the UCONN Police joined the more than 70 attendees to discuss the issue and resources available.

Nora also organized the event in 2025 and is working to continue it in the coming years.

2024 Recipient:

Zara Haque, then an 11th-grade student at Greenwich High School. Zara’s remarkable commitment to STEM education is evident in her work as the STEM Coordinator for the Greenwich chapter of STEM to Stern (STS), a national organization dedicated to providing underprivileged students access to rowing and STEM education. She developed and instructed five semesters of science research curriculum for middle school students recruited from the Boys & Girls Club. In addition to her work with STS, Zara showed extraordinary leadership in organizing the Greenwich Middle School STEM Fair. The Greenwich Middle School STEM Fair provides middle school students a platform to present their research and connect with like-minded peers across Greenwich’s middle schools.

2023 Recipient:

Sum Ling “Celine” Fong – Celine, a Greenwich resident and Rye Country Day School Junior.  Celine enjoys working within the intersection of art and community building. One of her projects was a partnership with the Greenwich PD Special Victims Unit, where she designed and painted a mural for the SVU waiting room. Celine planned to use the money awarded by the JLG to enlarge and improve a project she began as a member of the First Selectman’s Youth Commission called Art for Activism. This venture encourages artistic expression and creativity while raising awareness for social justice issues. In 2022, she partnered with the Bruce Museum to host an online exhibition, and the winners received Bruce Museum memberships. This award would enable Celine to expand the advertising and publicity for the exhibit to attract more artists, and she expects to create a grant for winners to experience master classes and establish mentorships.

2022 Recipient:

Jennifer Di Capua, then an 11th-grade student at Sacred Heart  Greenwich. Some of Jennifer’s volunteer roles include serving as a grade-level community service ambassador,  Founder and President of the Women in Leadership Club, and founding member and Head of the Middle School Peer Branch Committee, as well as the 3DNYC Summer Service participant and Sacred Heart Greenwich summer outreach volunteer. Perhaps one of Jennifer’s most interesting pursuits is her founding and developing an app and website entitled Salud Por Todos. This platform enables Latinx immigrants to access healthcare providers easily.  Jennifer plans to use the award to start educational programs for immigrants.

2021 Recipient:

Stephanie Busani, then a junior at Greenwich High School. Stephanie is an outstanding volunteer for Neighbor to Neighbor who has dedicated over 2000 service hours to the organization. Additionally, she spearheaded The Monthly Mission, a program to help provide feminine hygiene products for those in need. Stephanie has also been a volunteer performer at Off-Beat Players and is preparing to be a future volunteer EMT. Stephanie plans to use $800 of the grant towards her college education, where she plans to study nursing, and she will use $200 to support Neighbor to Neighbor.

2019 Recipient

Stephanie Guza, a senior at Sacred Heart Greenwich. Stephanie founded the Help End Period Poverty Project. This project’s mission is to spread awareness, educate others, and provide free feminine hygiene products to those in need. Stephanie organized three fundraisers at her school, raising two thousand dollars’ worth of feminine products to donate to low-income and homeless women. She planned to use the award money to purchase and donate more menstrual products for organizations and shelters in Greenwich, such as Neighbor to Neighbor. Stephanie will attend the University of Richmond in the fall and hopes to expand her project to her new community.

2018 Recipient:

Christine Kao, then a senior at Greenwich Academy.  Christine has been involved in the community as Vice President of Safe Rides, Senior Ambassador for Kids Helping Kids Stamford, Assistant Ice Skating coach for the Skyliners Synchronized Ice Skating Team, and STEM Camp Counselor at the India Cultural Center. But most impressive was her commitment to teaching flute at Waterside Elementary School. As a visiting concert band teacher for the after-school program, Christine has led small group instruction in flute for three to five students every Friday for the past three years.

2017 Recipient
Kasey Luo, a Cos Cob resident and Rye Country Day School senior. Kasey demonstrated initiative by founding Major Leagues. Major Leagues assembles a group of musicians and singers to rehearse and perform musical repertoires at local nursing homes. Luo is the President of Major Leagues. She intends to use her Community Service Award in college to kick-start an organization similar to Major Leagues.

2016 Recipients (2)

The first recipient, Julianna Song, was a senior at Greenwich Academy. Her passion for volunteering began in the 8th grade when our recipient took a year out of school, and traveled with her family to 10 countries working at nonprofits that her parents have supported over the years. In 2014, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Award after completing 450 hours of voluntary public service within four years. She volunteered with numerous organizations, but said the organization that she was most committed to is Lily of the Valley Orphanage in South Africa. She took her experience another tremendous step further and created a website called www.nogifttoosmall.com that included a personal blog with photos of her volunteer experiences and a donation page. She has used this as a platform to raise more than $100,000. She and her brother applied for grants and were given $20,000 for Lily of the Valley’s continued work.

The second recipient, Elizabeth Jones, was then a senior at Greenwich High School with a strong academic background and many volunteer activities. She says her most important volunteer activity is being a coach for the Unified Sports Team, the local chapter of Special Olympics at Greenwich High School. She has been part of this program since her freshman year and has enjoyed working with new athletes every sports season. During the second semester of her senior year, she merged her love of film production and her involvement with Unified Sports Team by helping to create a public service announcement called STOMP! that highlights students and staff getting rid of the hurtful labels used to describe individuals with special needs.

2015 Recipient

Izabela Horzempa,  Greenwich High School.  She was a member of the National Honor Society, a national gold medalist and a silver state medalist for her ceramic art. She raised more money as Homecoming Chair than anyone previously. In addition, she tutored disadvantaged youth. Izabela’s high school guidance counselor stated she is “unequivocally the most impressive and amazing young person I have met in the sixteen years as a guidance counselor”. Izabela was accepted to Fairfield University and used the Community Service Award to help fund her college tuition.

2014 Recipient

Gabrielle Liflander, Greenwich High School. Gabrielle stood out for her significant and sustained community service and leadership, and her fulfillment of the JLG’s mission of developing the potential of women (in this case, girls). Her Girl Scout Gold Award Project: Math Girls Add Up created a curriculum about famous women in STEM fields for an after-school program at Waterside School in Stamford. She is attending Johns Hopkins to study Engineering, and we look forward to seeing the next amazing contributions this dedicated and talented young woman develops in her future communities.

2013 Recipient

Stephanie Williamson, Greenwich High School. Since her freshman year in high school, Stephanie volunteered at the Basset Hound Club of America and received an outstanding achievement award for Therapy Dog Work. She started a program at Cos Cob Library that allows struggling young readers to practice reading aloud to Rosie, her basset hound. In addition, Stephanie volunteered at Greenwich Hospital, was editor in chief for the GHS yearbook, and a bronze star Girl Scout.

2012 Recipient

Meei Hayashida – Meei did extensive work with Abilis, a nonprofit that works with people with disabilities in Greenwich and Stamford. Specifically, Meei’s role was to help a disabled teen access the Abilis arts curriculum. Miss Hayashida planned to utilize the award to fund a music program at Abilis to provide more instruments to the teenagers she worked with and to secure performance space.

2011 Recipient

Caela R. Murphy, a senior from Greenwich High School, was the Co-founder and Co-President of Go Green!, the Greenwich High School Environmental Awareness Club. When she wasn’t improving the environment, she was hard at work as a GHS AVID Peer Tutor and Peer Mentor, Anti-Defamation League Names Day Team Facilitator, Bruce Museum Seaside Center Touch Tank volunteer, GHS Habitat for Humanity Club member, Red Cross Youth Council Member, and a volunteer for her church’s soup kitchen.

2010 Recipients (2)

Lucy Williams from Greenwich Academy introduced a program called Kidz Kitchen at Family Centers, Inc. That summer, Healthy Choice Cooking Camp had run for 7 years. In addition, she and her sister started the organization Relight CT to get energy-saving light bulbs to low-income housing residents and help reduce the carbon footprint of those homes.

Elizabeth Buffone, also from Greenwich Academy, was the Founder and President of Greenwich Academy’s Do Something Club, which looked for local unmet needs and designed projects to meet them. As a result of her success, she was invited to attend the Impact Academy, hosted by America’s Promise Alliance, as one of only 150 national youth leaders.

2009 Recipient

Margaret Beneville, from Greenwich High School, founded the “Read to Nora” project, which was dedicated to the memory of Margaret’s good friend who died of cancer at the age of 14. She raised more than $8,500 for cancer research.

2008 Recipient

Lauri Ng truly exemplified extraordinary volunteer achievement. Lauri earned a 4.5 GPA while maintaining committed involvement in many volunteer activities. Locally, Lauri served as president and mentor for the Big Brother, Big Sister of Greenwich. She volunteered at Greenwich Adult Day Care and Meals on Wheels. She was also a peer tutor and mentor with the Stand by Me Program at Greenwich High School and is involved with the Student Assistance Team. Beyond Greenwich borders, Lauri has volunteered in El Salvador on a mission trip to rebuild houses. Lauri embraced her volunteer work and states, “Community service has been one of the most meaningful aspects of my life; I continue to volunteer because it promotes growth in my community and communities abroad…I have learned that to make a difference in the world, you need to help one person at a time and strengthen one community at a time.”

2007 Recipients (2)

Leah Milbauer, a sophomore at Greenwich High School two years ago, co-founded her charitable organization, Art from the Heart. After years as an active member of Habitat for Humanity, Leah became concerned about the plight of children struggling with cancer and chemotherapy and worked to create something to brighten their lives. Working with the Circle of Care for families with cancer, Leah and a friend co-founded Art from the Heart. They redecorate the bedrooms of young cancer patients. Now Co-President, Leah has opened two more chapters of her organization in local Connecticut towns. An honors student, Leah has volunteered with several other organizations and maintained leadership roles at school. We salute Leah for her compassion and initiative to brighten the lives of those in need.

Ayesha Samant, as a freshman at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, was a founding member of the Barat Foundation, a student-run philanthropic organization dedicated to helping local charities. There, she developed the foundation’s mission statement and bylaws. Ayesha is the Co-President of the African Task Force, an organization dedicated to increasing awareness of African social, political, and health problems. Ayesha was instrumental in bringing Kick AIDS Grass Roots Soccer to Sacred Heart. That past summer, she traveled to Haiti through the Project Pierre Toussaint to work with children living on the streets. We salute Ayesha for her leadership and commitment to making this world a better place.

2006 Recipients (2)

Sarah Aspinwall was an honors student who maintained a 3.5+ G.P.A. at the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Sarah initiated, led, or participated in a dazzling list of community projects ranging from assisting individual elderly or less fortunate neighbors to fundraisers and walks for large local and national organizations. She embodied her school’s value of dedicating one’s life to others, organizing food drives, collecting 7,000+ pounds of food for shelters and the homeless in NYC, even organizing visits to the city for Midnight Runs to deliver food to those living on the streets. She refereed for Special Olympics, walked for breast cancer research, collected shoes and toys for needy children in Africa and local underprivileged families, and raised funds for hurricane and tsunami victims. A high point in her voluntarism was Sacred Heart’s selection of Sarah to be a Pilgrim Helper at Lourdes, France, where she worked with mentally and physically impaired people. This life-changing experience confirmed her desire to dedicate her life to others.

Katherine Wesley, a Greenwich High School student, was the second recipient. She was an honors student and National Honor Society member who maintained a 4.0 G.P.A. Katherine enjoyed sports at school, playing soccer and participating in Varsity Indoor and Varsity Outdoor track, where she was Freshman Captain. Katherine also sang in the Concert Choir and was a Peer Mentor. She was accepted to the Summer Exploration at Yale program as a tenth grader. Her contributions to the local community included Habitat for Humanity, Christ Church Youth Council, the Episcopal Relief Development group, and the Red Cross Youth Council. Katherine created and implemented a program to raise money for disasters through various fundraisers called the Radical Relief program at the Red Cross. This resulted in the single most successful teen fundraising program at the local chapter. She has received many awards for her efforts on behalf of the Red Cross.

2005 Recipient

The 2004 JLG Community Service Award winner was Emily Weissler, a senior at Greenwich High School. Her cumulative GPA was a staggering 4.0 plus, carrying a full load of honors classes! Since her freshman year in high school, she has performed over 400 hours of community service and dedicated another 100 hours to diversity programs. Throughout her school career, Emily has been honored for her outstanding citizenship, her mentorship of the freshman class at Greenwich High School, her time spent building a garden and playground in Quebec, her term as President of the Temple Sholom branch of the United Synagogue Youth Program and her work as a tutor for the GHS ABC Program. Emily also worked as a student guide for the traveling national Anne Frank exhibit at Greenwich High School and has worked to promote tolerance and diversity in her school community. She spent more than 200 hours providing childcare and enrichment activities for children whose mothers are clients of the residential program at LMG, Connecticut’s largest substance abuse program. For her efforts, she was awarded the Youth Volunteer Award by LMG.