Clinton MA teen wins excellence award

Worcester Telegram & Gazette Digests:
"CLINTON — Kurt Kosewski, a Clinton High School junior this school year, has received the “Accepting the Challenge of Excellence” Award from the Clinton Exchange Club. Kurt, 16, is a member of the school’s Excel Club, a high school version of the Exchange Club. His award-winning project was “Operation Soldier Recovery,” which involved gathering supplies such as toiletries, clothing, and other items for recovering soldiers in combat hospitals in Iraq, Germany, and the United States. According to Dan Young of the Exchange Club, the supplies were eventually distributed by Blue Star Mothers, a nonprofit organization. Mr. Young said the criteria for the award is starting a project that reaches beyond a student’s own community and helps others less fortunate or those not being aided. Kurt, the son of Tom and Monica Kosewski of Clinton, plans to start a different project each year. At the award dinner, Mr. Young said, Kurt decided to give back his winnings from a 50-50 raffle, to be put toward a local program that gives school backpacks to needy children. "