O’Brien honored with President’s Service Award
Posted: January 28, 2011Andrea O’Brien, M.S., associate director of admissions, has earned the prestigious 2010 United States President’s Volunteer Service Award.
“I am moved by the sentiment of someone thinking that what I have done is worthy of this type of award,” O’Brien
said. “I have always just wanted to make a positive difference to those around me in whatever I have done, even if only by trying to be a positive role model — but always to leave things or people better than I first found them.”
O’Brien’s passion is working with older youth, college students, and young professionals, helping them develop in areas that set them apart in a positive way.
By donating initial seed money that inspired more people to give, O’Brien helped St. Luke’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Kansas City open a room for parents of premature babies. She also helped lead a weeklong youth mission trip with First United Methodist Church, which helped an impoverished Kentucky family receive extensive improvements to their home. In addition, she led a weeklong youth mission trip in Texas to rebuild a home destroyed by Hurricane Rita.
Since 2006, O’Brien and her husband have hosted four international high school students, teaching them about America and helping her own sons and their friends learn about the cultures and customs of Germany, Denmark, and Belgium.