Way to Go!: Amanda Horn, Walt Whitman High School senior
Amanda Horn has successfully blended her love of horses and her desire to help special-needs kids.
The senior at Walt Whitman High School in Huntington Station has volunteered since age 8 at HorseAbility, a Melville nonprofit offering therapeutic riding for people with special needs. She is also chair of a youth leadership council for Autism Speaks, an advocacy organization.
Based on her volunteer efforts, Horn was awarded a certificate of excellence from the 2010 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program.
"I started as a counselor at their camp," said Horn, 17, of HorseAbility. "Special-needs kids have trouble socializing, but you can see a connection when the horse looks at them."
In recent years Horn has spent six hours each Saturday volunteering at HorseAbility walking beside the riders. She also volunteers at HorseAbility fundraisers ranging from wine tastings to poker tournaments.
Horn is a Girl Scout, a member of her school's National Honor Society, Girls Leaders Club, DECA, and winter and spring track and field teams.
She has competed at the Winners Circle Horse Show in Yaphank and at Thomas School of Horsemanship in Melville.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
