High school senior learns life lessons through volunteer service

LOVED BY OTHERS--Noelle Tankard is surrounded by Tanzanian children in Kawe, an urban and rural neighborhood of the capital city, Dar es Salaam. Noelle lived with a family in Kawe, while studying Swahili. She also visited the Kawea Primary School, where she assisted other volunteers. Noelle Tankard didn't laze away her days at the beach this summer. Instead, the 17-year-old Newbury Park High School senior immersed herself in Tanzanian culture for six weeks, living with a local family, volunteering at a school and an orphanage and studying chimpanzees in their native habitat.

"It was so much brighter and more colorful than what you see in the news," Tankard said. "The people are mostly poor but they seem happy. Personal relationships prevail," the young traveler said.

Situated south of Kenya, on the west coast of the continent, Tanzania is one of the more politically stable countries in Africa. "I learned how similar people are," said Tankard, who enjoys paleoanthropology. "It surprised me how friendly everyone was. They were welcoming and inviting and loved the fact that I was there helping," she said. "I got as much as I gave, perhaps even more, from the children and people that I met," she said. She gained confidence in herself and a greater understanding of people.

She also learned to value the little things, she said. "Without showers and electricity, you come back and appreciate things."

Tankard began her summer adventure visiting the Kawea Primary School, which serves handicapped children in Dar es Salaam. She lived with a family while studying Swahili.

She also volunteered at the Kikatiti Happy Watoto Home orphanage outside of Usa Tz under the auspices of Global Crossroad. Her trip culminated at the Mahale Mountains National Park, which is home to the world's largest chimpanzee population.

Tankard will write a research paper about interspecies filial relationships among chimpanzees for her international baccalaureate high school diploma.

Between her volunteering commitments and her study of primates, Tankard decided to take a safari. The adventure was a bit more eventful than she expected.

While visiting the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro, Tankard fell off the top of a moving Land Rover. She hit her head, had a concussion and was unconscious for a few minutes. Fortunately, she was traveling with a doctor, according to her online diary at noellejt.wordpress.com.

The setback didn't prevent the young adventurer from continuing her trip. She even wishes she could have stayed longer. Tankard said the experiences in Africa helped her to learn to live in "the now." "Her presence in Tanzania is

the culmination of several years of planning, study and saving," said Tankard's mother, Jacquie Van Wagner. She's been following Dr. Louis Leakey's breakthrough anthropological work at the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania since she was 10, her mother said.

At the age of 15 Tankard became a member of an observation team from the UCLA Extension program: she observed and recorded chimpanzee group dynamics at the Los Angeles Zoo, where she's been working as a volunteer under the direction of Dr. Kathleen Cox. The zoo's research department recently honored Tankard for the many hours she's devoted to the project. She plans to continue her volunteer work and is now working with the orangutans, she said. Last year, Tankard spear

headed a fundraising campaign at her Newbury Park High School for Hurricane Katrina victims. More than $3,500 was raised, according to Van Wagner.

Tankard also is president of the school's Amnesty International Club, and through the Shakespeare Saves Sudan program at her high school has led efforts to educate her classmates about the ongoing struggles in Darfur while gathering relief funds.

The proactive teenager is an honors student and award-winning public speaker on the Newbury Park High School speech and debate team. She's represented the school at the California State Speech and Debate championships three years in a row. She also medaled in the Academic Decathlon program during her freshman and sophomore years.

Tankard's volunteer hours and community service activities have made her a candidate for the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, which she's hoping to receive on the floor of Congress in June of next year. (The award is not related to the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration in the U.S.)

"Noelle is a smart, kind, giving and very beautiful young girl," said Bharati Savla, an assistant teacher at Thousand Oaks High School who is mentoring Tankard on the congressional medal requirements.

Savla is the mother of two children who received the medal. She leads by example, having volunteered for the PTA, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the TOHS band and at a local nursing home.

Congressional awards are open to young people between 14 and 23 years old.

Participants can receive the award as a certificate or a medal. Awards can be earned at bronze, silver or gold levels. Each level, Savla said, involves setting and achieving goals in four program areas: Volunteer Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness and Expedition/Exploration.

Savla's son, Daven, received his Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in 2006 and her daughter, Jill, received her award in 2003. "She was the first female in Southern California to receive this award," Savla said.

Savla meets periodically with Tankard to check on her progress. "It's an honor to be her advisor for the congressional award," she said. "She's a great influence on young adults."

"She certainly took the spirit of community service that makes her community proud to call her a daughter of Newbury Park," Van Wagner agreed.