Bigfork youth's volunteer work recognized in D.C.

The Daily Inter Lake

A Bigfork High School senior recently was recognized as one of the country's top youth volunteers.

Cheyne Valentine, 18, received a $1,000 2009 Prudential Spirit of Community Award. He and one other Montana teen received their awards earlier this month in Washington, D.C.

Valentine and 13-year-old Pamela Fawns of Corvallis were recognized by former first lady Laura Bush at the 14th annual award ceremony and dinner reception at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The teens were named the state's top high school and middle level youth volunteers in February.

In addition to their cash awards, they received engraved silver medallions and all-expenses-paid trips to Washington, D.C., with their parents.

Nearly 20,000 young people across the country submitted applications last fall for the awards program. Prudential Financial created the awards to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models.

Valentine was honored for spearheading a community campaign that raised $4,400 to purchase two automated external defibrillators for the

Bigfork School District and to provide CPR training for coaches.

His efforts were prompted by the death of Jeff Bowman, a Bigfork High School football player - and Valentine's friend - who died in August 2007 after collapsing during practice.

Bowman went into cardiac arrest on the field and died a week later.

The cause of his death has never been released.

"I am certain that if the coach had been trained in CPR and there had been a defibrillator on the field, the outcome for my friend would have been different," Valentine said.

Valentine and his mother, Serra, presented money for the defibrillators to the Bigfork School District in December 2008.

He also worked to persuade state legislators to pass a law requiring AEDs at all school athletic events and training for all coaches in Montana.

"I have started the ball rolling in this community, and it will continue until all schools in Montana make these safety changes," Valentine said.