Troy students recognized with Governor’s Awards for service

TROY — On Nov. 17, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Community Service Commission recognized 46 individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations as recipients of the 2022 Governor’s Service Awards and applauded their commitment to volunteerism, service or philanthropy.

Three of those awardees were students in the Troy School District: Ava Bunao, Krish Ghosalkar and Akshitha Sahu, who were recognized at an awards ceremony at the Fox Theatre in Detroit.

Bunao, a sophomore at Troy Athens High School, has a long history of using her time and talents to improve the lives of others, including writing letters to pen pal residents at nursing homes, volunteering at an emergency shelter and donating her hair to the Wigs for Kids program. She was recognized at the awards for her efforts in helping provide specialty foods to food pantries for those with dietary restrictions.

“It felt like I was actually making a difference if I was being recognized for my work,” said Bunao. “This is something that was making an impact.”

Calling the program she started Macarons for Morse, Bunao baked and sold macarons and used the proceeds from her impressive baking skills to buy specialty foods for people with special dietary needs. Her ingenuity has been used to get chain stores like Kroger and Aldi on board with her mission of making specialty/gluten free foods more accessible.

“I have a cousin who has a lot of severe food allergies. I started this project because of that,” she explained. “I noticed how people who can’t get the specific foods because of their dietary needs because they are low-income individuals.”

Ghosalkar, a senior at Troy High School, was honored for his work with the Key2Finesse nonprofit and his efforts to streamline fundraising efforts online.

“I’m part of a student-run nonprofit called Key2Finesse,” said Ghosalkar. “We find nonprofits that are relevant to teens and we start to fundraise. We reach out to philanthropists to sponsor our events, and we also engage the students in our community in the fundraising process. So, we’ll host poetry or essay or art contests. We look at things people in the  community are skilled in, start a competition with a small registration fee, and we can involve students in using their skills and engage in their talents while helping a great cause.”

He said he was most interested in this sort of work because it didn’t just provide a service but got members of the community involved and encouraged them to take on their own beneficial initiatives.

“What most inspired me to join was Key2Finesse’s mission,” he said. “Very few groups out there involve forwarding the mission of volunteering. Fundraising can be just going out and asking for money, but when you provide opportunities to go out and be proactive in improving their communities, you’re not just raising money or raising awareness, you are making sure others in your community are getting involved and community service is being promoted, and they are likely to continue after you graduate.”

He said being recognized by the governor and so many others was an amazing experience.

“It was unbelievable,” Ghosalkar remarked. “To be in a group with other civically engaged people from across Michigan and being one of the younger ones was amazing. We saw people from all walks of life and of all ages,” he said, calling the experience, “eye-opening.”

“Meeting the governor and meeting all of these people made me realize how important this kind of community service was to so many people,” he said.

Sahu, a senior at International Academy East in Troy, created the EcoBricks project, which takes hard-to-recycle plastics and transforms them into usable bricks. Her environmental club at her school was able to work with local sponsors to create a bench from the items collected from the project.

“I was pretty surprised by it,” she said of her recognition. “I am incredibly grateful. It represents the countless amount of work who also have helped on these projects. It felt like the start of a journey that my friends and peers have been on.”

Sahu also has both a poetry workshop and summer camp working with younger children, and dedicated hours to the Parks and Recreation Board of Troy, the Troy Historic Village and the Stage Nature Center. She described her environmental work as a passion of hers.

“It started at home when my mom and I would try to use less plastic,” Sahu said. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized people could go green in little, small steps. I would talk to friends about this, and I would go on nature walks so we would work on these projects like park cleanups. When I realized that I enjoyed these things so much I realized environmental advocacy would maybe be my career or as a passion as a teacher or something.”

Troy Schools Superintendent Rich Machesky expressed his pride in these students for their leadership and philanthropy.

“We could not be prouder of these three students,” he said in a press release. “They exemplify the spirit of our OneTroy community as they demonstrate examples of deep learning extending beyond our classrooms and impacting the health, welfare, and sustainable future of our community. Krish, Ava, and Akshitha are shining examples of the power of public education.”

“Michigan succeeds because of Michiganders who go above and beyond to serve their communities and lift up others,” said Whitmer in a press release. “This year’s winners get things done even when nobody’s looking because they know that every contribution makes a huge impact. I am honored to present the Governor’s Service Awards to this year’s 46 recipients and urge every Michigander to get involved in their community so we can move our state forward together.”