rosemary byrne/special to the town crier Los Altos High School students from the Red Cross Club celebrate their peers. From left, Parastou Olfat, Angela Johnston, Lauren Schreiber and Megan Powers.

Stars shone in the Portofino Room at the Crowne Plaza Cabaña May 19 as the Palo Alto Area Red Cross (PAARC) honored 23 seniors and two underclassmen from eight area high schools, including Los Altos schools, for their contributions.

With an Oscars theme, “The Spotlight Is on Our Youth Volunteers,” the event was the first Youth Award Night for the PAARC was organized to recognize teens who have given many hours and much dedication to programs such as Safe Ride, Safe Kids, Kid Power and Youth in Disaster.

Two guest speakers from the American Red Cross National Youth Council, Justin Lam and Allison Woo, spoke about their experience with youth involvement at the National Red Cross level and ways youth can continue Red Cross involvement through college.

Lam is a senior at Bellarmine College Prep, San Jose, and a volunteer with the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the Red Cross. Woo is a Stanford University Red Cross Club member and a member of the board of directors of the Palo Alto Area Chapter.

Mark Liao, a 2005 Crystal Bowl Award winner and a Stanford University Red Cross Club member, served as master of ceremonies.

“It was a great opportunity to get volunteers from the different schools’ Red Cross clubs and from different programs together to meet each other,” Liao said. “At the end, they didn’t want to leave; they had made connections.”

Elmengard Inc. of Los Altos, Travel Dynamics Group of Mountain View and the Crowne Plaza Cabaña sponsored the event.

“We’ve had outstanding youth participation this year, and the volunteers have really taken ownership of their programs,” said Anna Gail Caunca, director of community partnerships at PAARC. “They’ve been so terrific that we couldn’t just hand out certificates as usual.

“For example, the Safe Kids volunteers decided that one of the presentations was too boring for fourth-graders, and they came up with more interactive ways to engage the kids in the safety lessons,” Caunca said.

“And this year, the Safe Ride volunteer coordinators at participating high schools heavily promoted the program so that use of the service has jumped. In April, we had 60 calls and gave 51 rides, compared with 19 calls and 14 rides in the same month last year,” she said.

Safe Kids teaches students in grades K-8 personal safety and what to do in emergencies. Safe Ride, which was first organized by Gunn and Palo Alto high school students more than 20 years ago, gives free, safe and confidential rides home to teens on Friday and Saturday nights when school is in session.

The Palo Alto Area Chapter of the American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. The chapter serves Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Moffett Field, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Stanford. For more information, call 688-0415 or visit www.paarc.org.