Halamandaris Award: giving service to others unconditionally
Keera Allred, of Huntington, Utah, was awarded the Val J. Halamandaris Caring Award. The award is presented to a USU Eastern student in honor of Halamandaris.
The award is given to the top student who is in good standing with the school, has an intrinsic commitment to voluntary service, initiative and innovation in problem-solving, persistence in overcoming obstacles, advocacy for change that alleviates, or considerably improves, the status quo and displays continual caring in volunteer activities.
This archived article was written by: KC Smurthwaite
Keera Allred, of Huntington, Utah, was awarded the Val J. Halamandaris Caring Award. The award is presented to a USU Eastern student in honor of Halamandaris.
The award is given to the top student who is in good standing with the school, has an intrinsic commitment to voluntary service, initiative and innovation in problem-solving, persistence in overcoming obstacles, advocacy for change that alleviates, or considerably improves, the status quo and displays continual caring in volunteer activities.
Halamandaris, who grew up in Price, attended the College of Eastern Utah (then Carbon College), and continues his education and professional career in Washington, D.C. At both Carbon College and Carbon High School, Halamandaris was active in student activities: a representative to Boys State and Boys Nation, local and state winner of the Elks Leadership Contest, student body president and honor student in Phi Theta Kappa, just to name a few.
Allred has been involved with the Serving Utah Network (SUN) two years. She led the Angel Tree project, which focused on helping children during the holidays. “ It (Angel Tree) was my favorite service I did this year, it was great to help kids out. It brought me a great amount of satisfaction,” said Allred.
Not only does Allred help serve on campus, she does so in the community. She currently works at United Way helping in the AmeriCorps program. The executive director of United Way said, “Keera willingly shares her gifts, talents, keen-eye and expertise with others. She is always giving more of her time than expected.”
“I am honored to get this award. I give service to make a change, I don’t care if people see it, I just want to help. I think everybody who has contributed this year should get recognition,” said Allred. Terry Johnson, coordinator of the SUN Center said of Keera, “She represents the SUN extremely well. She contributes so much of her time to help others.”
Allred will be presented with a trophy and a cash award at the commencement ceremony.
