Golden Heart Awards honor contributions of three DHS students
On April 24, 1992, Holmes Junior High School student Andrew Mockus was beaten, robbed and pushed into a moving train by three King High students.
As a result of Mockus’s death, the City of Davis Recreation and Park Commission established the Golden Heart Award as a way to strengthen the community’s devotion to the youths of Davis. The award-giving ceremony is annual, and takes place at the City Council meeting closest to Valentine’s Day.
On Feb. 12, three Davis High students took home the only awards of the night: junior Michaela Saechow and senior Eliana Jolkovsky were winners in the Service Award category, and senior Cody Collins won the Personal Challenge Award.
The Service Award recognizes youth whose work has benefitted the community, and the Personal Challenge Award is given to individuals who have overcome great obstacles.
“Youth in Davis never cease to amaze me,” Mayor Joe Krovoza said. “Those presented with opportunity, seize it for good. Those presented with challenges meet them straight on. That’s exemplary and the Golden Heart Award reminds us of just a few highlights.”
Jolkovsky, who won the same Service Award in 2008 for raising money for Darfur, was nominated by Marjorie Maxwell. Five years later, Jolkovsky now focuses on raising awareness for the homeless.
She has put in over 100 hours of work creating a photo exhibit of homeless people in Davis, which was featured at the International House in September. Jolkovsky’s goal with the exhibit was to raise awareness of homelessness and to initiate the breaking down of the stereotypes that come with it.
Additionally, Jolkovsky has collected donations for the local shelter Grace In Action and organized DHS’s “Week of Kindness.”
Unlike Jolkovsky, Saechow was a first-time nominee, and was stunned when she learned that she had been nominated by her mother, Tina.
Saechow has been volunteering for five years at Therapeutic Riding and Off Track Rehabilitation (TROTR)—a non-profit organization that helps both people and horses. Retired, abandoned and abused horses are ridden and cared for, and people with physical, mental and emotional disabilities are taught to ride as a form of rehabilitation.
According to Saechow, there have been several cases where people came to TRORT unable to walk, and after months of therapeutic riding they could not only walk, but also run and jump.
“Horses are very therapeutic animals that can heal even the sickest people and put their mind at ease,” Saechow said. “They are the best teachers in the world. They teach people to use common sense, and they teach patience, kindness and understanding.”
Winning the Golden Heart Award made Saechow realize how important the work she does at TROTR is. “It makes me so happy when people come up to me and congratulate me, and tell me that what I do is wonderful and amazing.”
Saechow hopes to go to Meredith Manor, a vocational equine college, where she can become a professional riding instructor and continue with the work she is doing today.
While Saechow and Jolkovsky were recognized for their admirable work, Collins’s story is inspirational in a different way.
At age 18, he is blind in his right eye because his retina detached from his eyeball. Not knowing if and when the same thing will happen to his left eye, Collins has been learning how to read Braille, walk with a stick and use a guide dog.
Appreciating these incredible stories of strong youth in Davis is what the Golden Heart Award is all about.
Krovoza sums it all up: “We should all recognize youth in small ways, day in and day out.”
