Student Honored for Work on Newspaper

A 17-year-old Sherman Oaks high school student received a national award this week for her volunteer work on a citywide newspaper for teen-agers.

Josie Valderrama was named the outstanding youth volunteer Thursday at a breakfast sponsored by the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives as part of the group’s National Philanthropy Day.

She received a plaque and a certificate signed by Mayor Tom Bradley and presented by actress Betty White.

Valderrama, co-editor of LA Youth, spends about 40 hours a week during the summer and about 10 hours a week during the school year writing, taking photographs and editing for the paper. “We wear a lot of hats at LA Youth because the staff is so small,” Valderrama said. She has written on a variety of issues including allegations of police abuse of black and Latino teen-agers.

Valderrama lives in Echo Park but attends school at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, where she maintains a 3.75 grade point average and participates in speech and debate. Last year, she won the Los Angeles Unified School District’s speech competition.