Every year, I’m moved by the sight of a community that knows how to celebrate and honor its youth.

This year, I had the honor of reading biographies of three high school seniors who received Comcast scholarships. You can also meet them briefly through the video above. In addition, here are excerpts of the three students that HBPA introduced to us, and allowed us to honor. The biographies were written by the HBPA scholarship committee. It was a privilege to meet these women at the celebration last week.

Maria Celeste Campos will be graduating from Shadle Park High School and plans to attend Whitworth University  to pursue pre-medicine or dental hygiene studies.  She enjoys working with children and looks forward to serving young people in her chosen career.

With her “can do” attitude, Maria has been named as a 2013 Spokane Scholar and has earned an amazing high school grade point average of 3.976. She accomplished these high marks through her gifts as a student, but was coupled with focus, persistence and hard work.

Her success in United States public school is even more incredible when you consider that Maria, because of circumstance, had to teach herself English without the support of English Language Development classes.  It is amazing and inspiring to learn about Maria’s story of determination and self-motivation working through barriers and hardship in her quest to attain an education.

Maria is fluent in three languages; English, and Spanish and French.  She shares her enthusiasm and excitement about the Spanish language by volunteering her time coaching first-year Spanish students at Gonzaga University. She also volunteers time by teaching French and Spanish to young children in her high school’s early childhood education program.

Melissa Francis will be graduating from Lewis and Clark High School and plans to begin her college education at Spokane Falls Community College next year to pursue a degree in law.

Melissa has earned a solid high school grade point average of 3.3. She has challenged herself by taking rigorous coursework such as Advanced Placement classes and college credit-bearing French courses. Melissa’s recommending teachers describe her positive attitude, caring personality, ability to work well in groups, and strong work ethic as the basis for her excellent marks.

Melissa accepted an opportunity to demonstrate her commitment and leadership skills by volunteering at Maria Cantwell and Jay Inslee’s campaign headquarters where she was able to lead an effort to contact Spanish-speaking voters.  She was able to educate Latino voters about the importance and value of their vote.  Melissa’s effort was described as an “integral part of the campaign.”  Melissa has also volunteered her time in other ways.  She spent last summer in Mexico, immersed in the culture by serving as a teaching assistant at a local Catholic church.  She volunteers locally with T-shirt distribution during Bloomsday, and she tutors students in school who need help with their studies.

Through her mother’s immigration to the United States, Melissa knows firsthand how challenging the immigration process can seem for Hispanics.  This experience has shaped her desire to assist Hispanic people with immigration legal services after earning her law degree.

Camina Hirota will be graduating from Shadle Park High School and plans to attend Whitworth University next academic year to pursue a psychology degree and to minor in Spanish.  She looks forward to using her gifts and talents to make a difference on Whitworth’s campus and in her community.

Together with strong leadership, volunteer experiences, and an amazing academic record, Camina has been named as a 2013 Act Six Scholar.  She has earned a perfect high school grade point average of 4.0.

Camina’s recommending teacher describes her as a leader who is kind, caring and possesses great honesty and integrity.   Camina served as the National Honor Society as well as International Club president at her school.  She has volunteered countless hours to the Mobius Children’s Museum and Science Center.

Camina has a desire to transform her community through care, compassion, and helping others.  She has a special interest and focus on helping people who lack self-confidence feel accepted and confident in themselves and in their culture and heritage.

This month, the Comcast Neighborhoods program showcases Seattle’s U District. Here are links to some of the places featured on the program:

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture

Henry Art Gallery

University Bookstore

University District Farmer’s Market

University District Street Fair

University of Washington

More than 2,000 Comcast employees and friends volunteered April 27, 2013, as part of Comcast Cares Day. If you read our previous post with links to the groups, you may wonder how it all turned out. The answer is, we made a lot of change happen.

Click on the name of the organization to see our photographs on Flickr that show what happened on Comcast Cares Day 2013. If the name of the organization is not a link, then it means the pictures are coming soon. The other links will tell you what else went on that day. Plants got planted, benches and raised planter beds got built, computers got installed, lives got improved. If there are no links under the name, it means the local media did not report on the volunteering (or, if you are seeing this the week of April 27, it may mean the media has not reported on the volunteering yet).

Aberdeen: Miller Junior High School. 

• Here’s what KXRO had to say about the coming project.
• Here’s the report from KBKW radio.
• Here’s what KXRO had to say, with pictures, after the big day.

Arlington: Sarvey Wildlife Care Center

• Here’s what Sarvey had to say about the coming project on their Facebook page.
• Here’s a slideshow set to music prepared by the photographer
• Here’s a thank you from Sarvey’s director that was printed by the Everett Herald.

Bellingham: Lions Camp Horizon

Everett: Everett’s Delta Neighborhood.

Gig Harbor: Kenneth Leo Marvin Veterans Memorial Park 

• Here’s the city’s news release about our 40 volunteers.
• Here’s an account in the Gig Harbor Patch in advance of the event at Kenneth Leo Marvin Veterans Park
• Here’s the Gig Harbor Patch report after the event, with photos and video.
• The Peninsula Gateway wrote, “CHEERS to Comcast for weeding and mulching the Kenneth Leo Marvin Veterans Memorial Park. It looks wonderful.”

Kent: Northwest Harvest.  

• Here’s how the Kent Reporter described the big day.
• Here’s what Northwest Harvest had to say about all their many corporate sponsors.

Olympia: Rebuilding Together of Thurston County

• Read ThurstonTalk’s account of the coming day.
• Here’s another great report from ThurstonTalk, showing the results for the homeowner.

Pierce County: HopeSparks, McKinley Park, and the Gig Harbor Park

• The Suburban Times explains how the volunteering matters to Pierce County.
• Here’s what the Business Examiner had to say about our Pierce County projects

Redmond: Eastside Audubon Society at the Audubon BirdLoop at Marymoor Park

• Headline: Eastside Audubon and Comcast team up to take on blackberries at Marymoor.
• Here’s the Redmond Reporter’s chronicle of the big day.
• We appreciate this nice thanks from the Eastside Audubon Society, who report it would have taken 10 people in one year to do what we did in one day at Marymoor Park.

Seattle: Aki Kurose Middle School

Seattle: Labateyah Youth Home 

• Here’s a segment, looking forward to the big day in Seattle, with Margaret Larson of New Day Northwest
• Here’s our video (also embedded above at the top of this post) that shows off all the activity, and the moment when the United Indians of all Tribes Foundations learned they were getting a surprise $25,000 donation from the Comcast Foundation.
• Here’s a more extensive set of slides. 
• Here’s a report and photos from the Ballard News Tribune.
• Here are the live segments from Comcast Cares Day, by KIRO 7:

Spokane: Excelsior Youth Center

• Here’s a story the Easterner newspaper at Eastern Washington University published before the big day.

Tacoma: Hope Sparks.

• The Suburban Times: HopeSparks Selected for Comcast Cares Day.
• Here’s an account of what to expect Saturday from Tacoma Weekly.
• Here’s what HopeSparks had to say about what the donations of time and money mean to the organization.

Tacoma: McKinley Park. 

#ccday @ComcastWA http://t.co/nQqi3BJRmI—
Mark Gransee (@markgransee) April 27, 2013

Five years ago, there were, as I recall, about six of us across the country who shared about Comcast Cares Day on Twitter. It’s just amazing how Twitter and social networking have grown. Today, there were often several updates a minute from around the world. If you kept an eye on the #CCDay hashtag, you saw an everchanging collage of amazing volunteering. Now it’s possible to see sights, in almost real-time, of volunteers like the adorable shovelling tykes above.

One way we like to imagine the world through Twitter is through the use of a service called Tagboard: check out this Tagboard collage of Comcast Cares Day action. If you are like me and hyper-focused on Western Washington and Spokane, here are some of our favorite Tweets from the day. In some cases, you may have to click on a link to see the picture that came with the Tweet:

Comcast Cares Day Miller Jr High, Aberdeen, WA. #ccday http://t.co/aBQuhzWdDe—
Mark Decker (@MJHSPrincipalMD) April 27, 2013

#ccday @ComcastWA http://t.co/gENAntlupJ—
Mark Gransee (@markgransee) April 27, 2013

@comcastwa #ccday #sarveywildlife #officialphotographer #WA #comcastcaresday #unitedway instagram.com/p/YngzIIQN77/—
Joshua Saran (@joshmarshallpic) April 27, 2013

The kids from Redmond. #ccday @ComcastWA #kayla http://t.co/2pg4No92QE—
Mark Gransee (@markgransee) April 27, 2013

Huge thanks to @ComcastWA for their work at KLM Veterans Park today. Looks amazing. youtu.be/OQkQjVUpYbA #GigHarbor #ccday—
Derek Young (@DerekMYoung) April 27, 2013

@ComcastWA #ccday #wa yfrog.com/nu7lokfj—
Holly Martinez (@holly_day) April 27, 2013

@ComcastWA almost time for ribbon cutting! #ccday #wa yfrog.com/ob7w0ufj—
Holly Martinez (@holly_day) April 27, 2013

@CityYearSeattle helping @ComcastWA create art work @ Labateyah to place on freshly painted walls #CCDay #WA http://t.co/tIGKmPWub8—
Tiffany K Payne (@TiffanyKPayne) April 27, 2013

Video of 3 volunteers helping @HopeSparksOrg in Tacoma & why we're here today #CCDay #WA youtu.be/4EWOTrQnitk—
WA Comcast Team (@ComcastWA) April 27, 2013

@charisselillie helping paint a mural @comcastwa #CCDay #Wa #makechangehappen @comcastdreambig [pic]: 4sq.com/13Cb9aJ—
Tiffany K Payne (@TiffanyKPayne) April 27, 2013

#ccday @ComcastWA http://t.co/V9OGC8lcJt—
Mark Gransee (@markgransee) April 27, 2013

twitpic.com/cmde0q Working #ccday @comcastWa #wa—
WA Comcast Team (@ComcastWA) April 27, 2013

#Kayla volunteering at Comcast Cares Day. #ccday @comcastwa @jenjaybee @ Marymoor Park instagram.com/p/YngH6hPi6B/—
Mark Gransee (@markgransee) April 27, 2013

Comcast cares day gets an early start at the Kent warehouse, with 200 plus volunteers packing food, landscaping… fb.me/LmT0iT5A—
Northwest Harvest (@NWHarvest) April 27, 2013

Video: kind thx to our volunteers fm Nicol of @HopeSparksOrg in Tacoma #ccday #wa youtu.be/Nr5EP0kvLuI—
WA Comcast Team (@ComcastWA) April 27, 2013

Part of the @ACRSNews team volunteering to spruce at Labateyah Youth Home for #ccday 2013. @ComcastWA yfrog.com/oe389nyj—
ACRS Seattle (@ACRSNews) April 27, 2013

Comcast Cares Day @ Miller #ccday http://t.co/eOKDSQKLBl—
Mark Decker (@MJHSPrincipalMD) April 27, 2013

Video: Tacoma couple explains how #CCDay #WA helped clear @MetParksTacoma McKinley Park today youtu.be/pQ7jnF5pdhk—
WA Comcast Team (@ComcastWA) April 27, 2013

Comcast Care Day @ Miller Jr High, Aberdeen, WA. Our student computer winner. #ccday http://t.co/fxExyFeo6I—
Mark Decker (@MJHSPrincipalMD) April 28, 2013

The work crew finished up at Miller Jr High Comcast Cares day. #ccday. Great job all. Bob Lippett @Comcast Rocks! http://t.co/LvtNnsdx6K—
Mark Decker (@MJHSPrincipalMD) April 28, 2013

Steve Kipp appears on KIRO news today, April 27, 2013, to talk about Comcast Cares Day

Yes, it’s here! The largest day of corporate service of its kind has arrived. If you were watching the KIRO 7 morning news, you saw our VP of Communications Steve Kipp live from the Labateyah Youth Home in Seattle and talking about what we expect 2,000 volunteers to accomplish.

To follow what’s going on today, we’d invite you to check out updates from around the nation with the #CCDay hashtag on Twitter. Many of our people will be using the #CCDay #WA hashtag, so that should give you a special focus on Washington. Wish us luck as the volunteering commences, and keep an eye on this site for updates on how a business can help make change happen for the better in the community.

If you want to read about all 13 projects in Western Washington and Spokane, click here.