Dix Hills student receives President's Volunteer Service Award

A student at Half Hollow Hills High School West received a prestigious national award for his volunteer work at local hospitals.

Miles Kim, 16, a junior at the Dix Hills school, recently received the gold-level President's Volunteer Service Award for giving more than 250 hours of his time during a 12-month period. The award is an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service and is administered by Points of Light, the Atlanta-based nonprofit founded by the late former President George H.W. Bush.

Kim said he was inspired by visits to his grandfather in the hospital after he suffered a stroke about two years ago.

"I decided to volunteer because I saw a lot of elderly patients who were lonely," he said. "They didn't have a lot of visitors."

Kim interacted with various patients and transported equipment at Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Commack and Stony Brook University Hospital. He volunteered multiple times a week at Gurwin in summer 2017 and at Stony Brook last summer.

His other activities include serving as opinion editor for the school newspaper and as a member of the school's varsity swim team, Environmental Club and Mathletes team. He plays cello in the Half Hollow Hills West orchestra and last school year was selected for the All-County ensemble.

He is in the Columbia University Science Honors Program in Manhattan.  

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.