Lima Senior High School sophomore Zach Zwiebel received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for his work with 4-H and for his leadership in ongoing efforts to bring a vocational agriculture program to his school.
Zwiebel sits on a committee that is working to add the program to Lima Senior’s Career Tech offerings. While the program has not come to fruition yet, the district has committed to doing it. School officials say Zwiebel has been a real advocate for the program.
The award recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of time to serve their communities. The award is presented by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program and sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
Lima Senior Principal Fran Mort and Guidance Counselor Kellie Sterling nominated Zwiebel for the award.
“I was pretty surprised,” he said. “I just do what I do and try to stay busy. I did not expect this, but it is cool to be recognized.
Zwiebel has been involved in 4-H for the past eight years. He is a member of Paws and Pals and Clover Patch Crew 4-H Clubs. He was previously a member of Junior Leaders and is now on the Junior Fair Board, helping to oversee 4-H projects throughout the county. He has repeatedly shined at the Allen County Fair and brought home a Showmanship first-place award from the Ohio State Fair last year. He had two special interest projects make it to state last year too.
Zwiebel is also among 40 chosen from around the state for the Ohio Youth Capital Challenge, a collaboration with 4-H, Future Farmers of America (FFA) and the Ohio Farm Bureau. He spent two days in Columbus last week working to create policy that will be presented in May for the chance to present at this year’s State Fair.
The policy involves bringing more programs like FFA, 4-H and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America to schools. Zwiebel has been surveying students and staff about such programs and has visited elementary schools to talk to students about 4-H.
“One of my goals here is to educate Lima Senior kids about where their food comes from,” he said.
Very active at Lima Senior, Zwiebel is in Youth and Government, Choir, the Choir Council and is a Fellowship of Christian Athletes leader. He also plays baseball and golf for the Spartans. He works at Big R and maintains a 4.07 grade-point average.