Volunteer EMT, Coding Nonprofit: McLean Teens Recognized For Community Service

MCLEAN, VA — Four teens earned Teen Character Awards from the McLean Citizens Association for their contributions to the community.

This year's four award winners were McLean High School junior Alex Abraham, Langley High School senior Sebastian Herbolsheimer, Potomac School sophomore Kasim Khapra and McLean High School junior Tatum King.

The awards were presented by Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust and the McLean Citizens Association's Scott Spitzer and Jim Beggs during McLean Day this past Saturday at Lewinsville Park.

According to the association, the Teen Character Award honors "teens who have, on their own and without compensation, helped out in their neighborhood or community" and are en example to others.

Abraham was recognized for his volunteerism at the Share of McLean food bank for several years. According to the McLean Citizens Association, he helps stock the food pantry, delivers bread donations from Giant, supports the food pantry after major food drives, and helps during distribution days. His supervisors at Share of McLean said Abraham is "always on time, proactive, enthusiastic and hard working," and he often leads new volunteers.

In addition to his volunteer work with the food bank, Abraham has also led an annual coat drive for the Virginia Hospital Center in the last two years. This year, his coat drive generated 250 new and used coats for all ages, and over 150 winter accessories for Virginia Hospital Center's pediatric unit.

Herbolsheimer was recognized for joining the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department as a volunteer EMT. He joined Vienna's volunteer personnel due to the McLean Volunteer Fire Department having no vacancies. Since volunteering, he has contributed an average 66 hours per month. Herbolsheimer is also an Eagle Scout and junior assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 1916. His nominators said his contributions show "caring, trustworthiness, responsibility, fairness, respect, and citizenship."

Khapra was recognized for founding MyPy Coding, which seeks to remove barriers to accessing computer science education. He started it during the COVID-19 pandemic when a family friend asked him to tutor her fourth grader on coding through Zoom. He expanded his tutoring to multiple students and recruited friends who could tutor.

Now, the nonprofit provides free online one-on-one coding lessons to students in second to eighth grades. Students who were taught in the program pay it forward by becoming tutors to teach younger students. According to the citizens association, the nonprofit is geared toward underprivileged students in Northern Virginia, DC and beyond and has a curriculum seeking to make coding approachable and fun.

King was recognized for volunteering over six years with the McLean Little League Challenger program, a baseball program offered to children with special needs. This year, she was a field manager, spending two hours each Saturday during spring and fall baseball explaining the game to her 11-12 year old group and how buddies work with players. King organizes players, ensure players with special needs are kept safe, and manages the game.