I have known August Garritano since middle school. At 15, when I was the only one in my friend group without a date for Valentine’s Day, August made sure I did not feel left out and gave me flowers. Despite often being the target of some pretty intense bullying, August was always the most loving and generous person anyone in our high school knew.

More than 10 years later (yikes, we are getting old) August still spends his free time giving back to the Brandywine community.

With fine arts in education being threatened across the country due to budget cuts, August makes sure that young people in the Brandywine community are exposed to a multitude of opportunities for engaging with performing arts through his work with the Brandywine Performing Arts Workshop and the district’s fall musical.

August plans and fundraises year round to put together the summer P.A.W. workshop with fellow Brandywine alumna Lena Miles. In addition to these initiatives, August has worked to create a food pantry for the Niles/Brandywine community, and even ran for school board.

His hard work and dedication often goes unnoticed, and he deserves recognition.

— Jasmine LaBine