Jefferson Awards honor those who give backJefferson Awards honor those who give back

Co-Chair and presenter, Tatiana Copeland, speaks at the Jefferson Awards Foundationas Salute to Service in Delaware event Monday at the Gold Ballroom in the Hotel DuPont.(Photo: SUCHAT PEDERSON/THE NEWS JOURNAL)

Sussex Central High School student Samantha Franklin experienced more adversity by the time she was a teenager than most do in a lifetime.

But that has not stopped her from giving back to her community.

“I learned early in life that [it] is all about choices,” she told a crowd Monday at the Hotel du Pont, where she was honored with a Jefferson Award for Public Service. In addition, Delmarva Power donated 1,200 smoke alarms to fire officials to raise fire safety awareness.

Mike Castle congratulates Braeden Mannering, 11, of Bear for receiving the “Outstanding Youth Service in the Jefferson Awards LEAD360 Challenge. (Photo: SUCHAT PEDERSON/THE NEWS JOURNAL)Monica Prestowitz receives the “Outstanding Service by an Employee in the Workplace” as the Jefferson Awards Foudation celebrate community volunteerism at their third annual “Salute to Service in Delaware” at the Gold Ballroom at the Hotel DuPont. (Photo: SUCHAT PEDERSON/THE NEWS JOURNAL)Samantha Franklin receives the “Outstanding Service Benefitting Local Communities” as the Jefferson Awards Foudation celebrate community volunteerism at their third annual “Salute to Service in Delaware” at the Gold Ballroom at the Hotel DuPont.