Stephanie Portillo, a Spanish teacher at Randolph-Macon Academy recently received the Air Force Association’s Medal of Merit and the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ National Citizenship Education Teacher Award. She has taken her personal dedication to her students.

Drawing on her own school service experiences, she now works to instill the understandings and responsibilities of volunteering in her students. Portillo coordinates R-MA’s extensive student service programs- Interact-Community Service.

Portillo’s grounds her message and lessons in the belief that contribution doesn’t require money. Time, commitment, and hard work provide the strongest foundation for valuable service. She explained to the Northern Virginia Daily, “We try to teach the kids that, above all, this is not about cutting a check….and, we try to teach the kids that while donations are needed, if we roll up our sleeves and help out, it doesn’t have to involve money.”

Armed with the understanding that their efforts make a difference, these high school students carry the knowledge that they can contribute through their lives.

“You are planting a seed that is multiplying,” Portillo said.