Westminster : ‘Doing What’s Right’ Brings National Honor

Her teachers describe her as “a girl with a social conscience.” The U.S. secretary of education says she has “forged new paths to civil betterment.” But 18-year-old Tanya Prather thinks she’s “only doing what’s right.”

Prather, a recent Marina High School graduate, was cited Tuesday by the Reagan Administration as a high school student of “exceptional caliber.” Education Secretary William Bennett said Prather is one of five California teen-agers--along with 252 other students and groups across the nation--who will receive the International Youth Year Award.

Bennett said the 257 recipients will be recognized in regional ceremonies, with Prather being honored Sept. 6 in San Francisco. The awards are the Education Department’s main initiative observing International Youth Year, which was designated for 1985 by the United Nations.

A straight-A student, Prather was involved in several extracurricular projects, including volunteering as an aide in Los Angeles soup kitchens and heading a high school food drive to benefit Third World countries.

Prather said she likes doing community projects because she thinks it’s important to help other people. “I really feel that there’s a lot that can be done,” she said Tuesday.

Marina school officials nominated Prather for the award, and she was selected from more than 1,000 applicants nationwide. She said she was “shocked” at the honor because she doesn’t see herself as being different from other teen-agers.

But those who know her say she is far from being ordinary.

“She’s really good at carrying her skills and intelligence outside the classroom and into other things,” said Peter Snetsinger, Prather’s government teacher at Marina. “She’s just a terrific girl.”

Prather, of Westminster, will attend Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., this fall and will study international relations.

Says Prather: “I’m very optimistic, and people tell me that’s my downfall. But I’m determined that there are things I can do to make this a better world, and I will do them.”