NEW LONDON, N.H. — Superintendent Winfried Feneberg and Principal Charles Langille are pleased to announce that Kearsarge Regional High School senior Christopher Brahan has been named a Distinguished Finalist for the 2021 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.
Created in 1995 by Prudential and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the program honors middle and high school students for their community service work at the local, state or national level. Brahan, a North Sutton resident, was chosen as one of the top runners-up for New Hampshire.
“It feels quite amazing to receive this honor, but that’s not the reason why I do community service work,” Brahan said. “I do it out of a love for being outdoors and wanting to be part of local trail building and conservation efforts. It feels great working on a trail and making sure beautiful areas are accessible for everyone with a will to get some mud on their shoes.”
Brahan’s community service has been primarily focused on the outdoors and he’s mainly worked with the Upper Valley High School Trail Corps on projects such as restoring old bog bridges, completing a mountain bike trail, fixing trails to improve drainage, and building stone staircases on hiking trails. This past fall, he also worked with several other Kearsarge students to help Kearsarge High School science teacher Emily Anderson and a New Hampshire Fish and Game biologist John Magee to electrofish and record population data of fish species along Trout Stream and Stevens Brook.
Most recently, he worked with Henry Howell, co-chair of the Sutton Conservation Commission, to build and install signs and kiosks for various conservation lands in the North Sutton area.
“Chris has always displayed a unique combination of intellectual curiosity and wonderment when he approaches the natural world,” Mary Wright, a science teacher at KRHS, said. “This has led him to ask unique questions and to develop unique ways in
which to investigate the answers. His unending enthusiasm towards the natural world will, no doubt, lead him to make positive contributions to the field of ecology.”
“We are lucky to have students who are committed to the betterment of their communities, and Chris is a prime example of just that,” Superintendent Feneberg said. “This recognition is well-deserved, and we are all proud of the incredible work he’s done over the last few years in the Kearsarge community.”
###