GLENDALE, CALIF. – April 2, 2013 – Nestlé USA today awarded 18-year-old Santiago Beltran Miranda of St. Louis its prestigious Nestlé Very Best In Youth award. Santiago joins 17 other outstanding young leaders from across the country recognized as the 2013 Nestlé Very Best In Youth. Now in its 16th year, the awards program honors young people for their academic excellence and proven dedication to improving communities and creating a better tomorrow.

A budding entrepreneur and founder of web application service provider, Protser.com, Santiago launched Ladue High School’s U-Tech Club to share his skills with other students. One year later, he founded the Tech Access Project, which takes refurbished computers, installs new software and distributes them to students and local partner organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs. His project has provided computer access to more than 400 students since 2010.

Santiago hopes to study electrical engineering with a focus on developing new telecommunications technology to help connect people around the world.

“Accounting for more than half of the global population, young people must take an active role in shaping tomorrow’s world,” said Ken Bentley, Nestlé vice president of community affairs & educational programs and author of the Nestlé Very Best In Youth book series. “Nestlé is proud to recognize this year’s Nestlé Very Best In Youth whose volunteerism, leadership, and entrepreneurial spirit are making a meaningful impact on communities around the world.”

Along with being named a Nestlé Very Best In Youth, Santiago will receive a $1,000 donation to the charity of his choice and will be flown with a parent or guardian to Los Angeles for a red-carpet awards ceremony. Santiago’s achievements will also be featured in the Nestlé Very Best In Youth book, distributed to schools, libraries and community organizations nationwide and available for the first time in e-book format in the summer of 2013.

Hundreds of student entries were submitted to Nestlé USA for consideration in this year’s competition. Leaders of service projects ranging from wildlife preservation and energy innovation to international poverty relief, the 18 youth honored with the Nestlé Very Best In Youth award are shining examples amongst their peers and communities.

Since 1997, Nestlé USA has donated more than $1 million to organizations supported by Nestlé Very Best In Youth students.

To learn more about the 2013 Nestlé Very Best In Youth award recipients, visit verybestinyouth.nestleusa.com.

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About Nestlé USA: Named one of “The World’s Most Admired Food Companies” in Fortune magazine for sixteen consecutive years, Nestlé provides quality brands and products that bring flavor to life every day. From nutritious meals with LEAN CUISINE® to baking traditions with NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE®, Nestlé USA makes delicious, convenient, and nutritious food and beverage products that make good living possible. That’s what “Nestlé. Good Food, Good Life” is all about. Nestlé USA, with 2012 sales of $10 billion, is part of Nestlé S.A. in Vevey, Switzerland — the world’s largest food company with a commitment to Nutrition, Health & Wellness — with 2012 sales of $98 billion. For product news and information, visit Nestleusa.com or Facebook.com/NestleUSA.

Contacts: Kim Abesamis Community Affairs & Educational Programs Nestlé USA 818.549.6341 kimberly.abesamis@us.nestle.com

Marlee Dippolito Edelman for Nestlé 323.202.1038 marlee.dippolito@edelman.com

The St. Louis Rams and CHARACTERplus, an initiative of the Cooperating School Districts, today announced this year’s Character Fitness Model Schools. Ladue Middle School in the Ladue School District, Point Elementary School in the Mehlville School District and Woerther Elementary School in the Rockwood School District were selected as the 2013 Character Fitness Model Schools.

The Model Schools program recognizes schools that have effectively implemented character fitness throughout the school year in a way that engages students, staff and the school community as a whole. Character fitness combines health and nutrition efforts, character development and physical exercise. Schools that have achieved a mastery rating in those categories, as determined by a panel of judges, are recognized with the honor of being named a Model School.

Ladue, Point and Woerther were selected as Model Schools based on the number and quality of initiatives in which they participated this year, and how the programs collectively involved the student body. In addition, the schools were judged on staff involvement in teaching and modeling character fitness, curricular connections within physical education, health and core classes, community outreach and service, and the outcomes of the various programs and efforts.

This year’s Model Schools have also embraced a culture of character fitness by participating in national and regional initiatives that improve their physical activity and service. Such programs include the President’s Fitness Challenge, PLAY 60, GO! St. Louis Read, Right & Run Marathon, Jump Rope For Heart and Hoops For Heart, National Walk/Bike to School, in addition to others. They encourage individual goal setting and help students track improvement through Fitness Gram and heart rate monitors.

Teachers from core and encore curricular areas regularly incorporate five-minute activity breaks for their students in class and before tests. They also attend yoga or fitness classes after school and organize walks in support of worthy causes.

Examples of efforts from Point include a two-week dance unit created by the music teacher to help fund diabetes awareness. Parents also got involved by organizing a Father-Daughter Dance and a Mother-Son bowling event.

In science classes at Ladue, students study heart rates in the lab, calculate acceleration rates on rollerblades, test water samples from a local creek and explore physics with a cardboard boat regatta. In communication arts, students research sugar effects, analyze food labels and put grammar rules to movement with Conjunction Junction. The parents of Ladue students also helped establish a “Girls on the Run” program at the school.

Woerther students take part in “Bowling for Bucks,” a program in which they practice bowling, shagging pins, counting money and scorekeeping. And second-graders test their geography skills in the United States Relays.

All three Model Schools will receive a banner to highlight their accomplishment during an on-site celebration. Each school will also receive tickets to a 2013 Rams game and an invitation to co-present at the Fall 2013 launch of Character Fitness. In addition, their ideas will be shared with all educators through the St. Louis Rams and CHARACTERplus websites.

The St. Louis Rams and CHARACTERplus partnered to create the Character Fitness Model Schools program in 2010, recognizing the connection between the principles of character education and fitness. The program offers the opportunity to benefit students and schools alike in a joint effort to create foundations for a healthy life.

CHARACTERplus is a community partner of the St. Louis Rams, helping the organization to instill character and healthy lifestyle choices in youth. CHARACTERplus currently involves more than 74 member school districts in Missouri and southern Illinois, including 30,000 teachers serving in public, private and charter schools who reach more than 340,000 students.

For more information on Character Fitness Model Schools and CHARACTERplus, please visitwww.characterplus.org.

The shoes collected through the Shoeman Water Project are either sold or recycled, with profits used to dig wells, repair existing wells and build water purification systems.  The Spoede Elementary School Student Council is sponsored by Art Teacher Jim Boland and Fifth-Grade Teacher Joe Joachimstaler.  Jennifer Johnson’s second-grade class earned the Golden Shoe Award for collecting 211 pairs of shoes, the most of any class.

Shown here are Spoede Elementary School fifth-graders Jason Pummer and Hans Mueller collecting shoes in their neighborhood.

Ladue High School students have volunteered in Habitat’s ReStore, in Old North St. Louis and the Carondelet Neighborhood. The Ladue High School football team also volunteered in March, 2012 in Carondelet.

Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis is a not-for-profit, ecumenical housing ministry working in partnership with individuals and communities of all faiths to improve living conditions and provide affordable housing in the St. Louis community. With more than 313 homes already built in the area, Habitat has become one of the leading housing developers in the St. Louis metro area. According to the USGBC, Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis is the largest producer of LEED Certified Platinum single-family detached homes in the United States.

Reed Elementary School collected $20,427 in donations, and the district, as a whole, raised $46,059.32.  Reed Physical Education teachers, Kim Plogger, Tom Hadfield, and Brian Driscoll represented the school and were awarded a crystal trophy.  They are pictured here with former Cardinals baseball player Ozzie Smith.

Old Bonhomme Elementary School came in third in the state, raising $14,464.54.