A Santa Fe College student was named School Volunteer of the Year for Alachua County Public Schools.
Marci Quested, a 21-year-old elementary education major, has volunteered with special education students at Rawlings Elementary School for two years.
Quested relates to the students she works with because she was born with visual and neurological impairments.
She shares her challenges with the students at Rawlings Elementary to help them realize that they can do anything they put their minds to, she said.
Every year, Alachua County Public Schools name Volunteer of the Year in three categories: one youth, one adult and one senior.
Liz Stark, volunteer coordinator for Alachua County Public Schools, said Quested was chosen as the youth Volunteer of the Year because of her exceptional efforts.
Students usually volunteer as a requirement, but Quested does it because she wants to help, Stark said.
Quested is excited to get experience with special education students because she wants to work with them as a career.
"It makes them feel great to get a high-five for a good grade, and it makes me feel proud to that I had a hand in helping them," she said.
Quested said she believes that the most important thing she does to help these students is to look past their disabilities to see them for who they really are.
"I look above and beyond their challenges," she said. "They are just kids."
