On July 7th, 2015 at Midvale City Council meeting, Amelia Slama-Catron of Midvale Middle School was recognized for the awards she received for Utah’s top two youth volunteers of 2015.  Amelia along with John Wesley Orton of Salt Lake City was honored in the nation’s capital for their outstanding volunteer service.  They each received $1,000 awards and personal congratulations from “Good Morning America” at an award ceremony and gala dinner reception held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.  In addition to their cash awards, they each received an engraved silver medallion and an all-expense-paid trip with a parent to Washington, D.C., for four days of recognition events.

Amelia devoted more than 100 hours of her time last summer developing an activity booklet to help older children learn more from the exhibits at a nearby children’s museum.  Amelia said she really enjoyed the activities and special events at the Treehouse Children’s Museum in Ogden when she was younger, but as she got older, she noticed that her younger sister was the one having all the fun, and she was just engaged.  “So I decided to fix the problem,” said Amelia.

She began by observing children at the exhibits, story times and interactive theater program and found that everything seemed to be targeting younger kids.  After much brainstorming, Amelia decided to create an activity booklet that would engage older children to “learn, think, and respond while viewing the museum’s exhibits.  Amelia’s booklet is now available free to everyone at the museum who wants one. “It allows them to enjoy the hands-on exhibits available there at the same time as their younger siblings,” She said.  “They can learn and have fun at the same time.”  Amelia also makes presentations to visitors at the museum, and helped develop a “play cafe” to teach children how to order and pay for their meal. 

Midvale City would like to congratulate Amelia for her outstanding volunteer award, and wish her much success.