Junior William Bauman gave a heartfelt, award-winning speech to students and staff about distracted driving and the importance of safe driving. After receiving notification of getting the Prudential Spirit of Community Award for his On the Road to Safe Driving organization, Bauman gets to attend an awards ceremony in Washington, D. C. on May 6 The Prudential Spirit of Community Award awards one high school student and one middle school student from each state across the country.

“This award is given to kids who do volunteer work for the community. The organization of the award chooses one high schooler and one middle schooler from each state to travel to Washington, D.C. for an awards ceremony. Then ten kids out of the 100 in D.C. get chosen to go to Nationals for this award,” Bauman said.
Bauman was influenced to begin this project three years ago when he experienced a motor vehicle accident involving distracted drivers.
“This started in 2014 when I was in a car accident with my mom. My mom was on her phone for just a split second, and that’s when she hit the car in front of us. It was a pretty bad accident, but luckily no one was badly hurt. I was one of the lucky ones. There are millions of people who has been affected by distracted driving, and that is what I want to take a stand on with my organization,” Bauman said.
Bauman’s organization is based on the importance of safe driving, and he wanted to send the message that anyone of any age can make a change to the world.
“The award is for volunteer service. What I want to get across to the people is that no matter what their passion is, what they want to help out with in the community, I want them to volunteer. I want them to start their own projects or organizations. No one is too young to help change the community. Young people today are the ones who could make a difference. They’re the ones who can simply change lives,” Bauman said.