Drexel Hill teen gets national honors for volunteerism
UPPER DARBY » He’s not even halfway through his high school years and Nickolas Moncilovich has been nationally recognized for his volunteer efforts.
Moncilovich, 16, of Drexel Hill, was recently named a recipient of the Daily Point of Life Award, an honor from the Points of Light Foundation created by former President George H.W. Bush to foster a national culture of volunteerism.
The award is given to individuals who “spark change and improve the world” with over 6,000 persons being awarded since 1990.
“I was honored to be selected and it enables me to shine a light on those organizations that my friends and I have helped,” said Moncilovich, a sophomore at The Haverford School.
Moncilovich got his start in helping his community when he was in fourth grade by collecting food and blankets for a local SPCA shelter. Doing that gave him happiness and in the summer going into fifth grade he established a volunteer group with some of his classmates called the Voluntweens of Drexel Hill to continue with the good deeds.
“Over the next four years, from elementary school though middle school, we worked with over 20 different organizations ranging from cancer groups, veterans homes, hospitals, women’s shelters, minor league baseball teams, food banks, our school teachers and district; basically any ideas we could come up with, trying each month to help a different organization so that it would be new and exciting each time,” he said of the young volunteers group he created. “My role grew from being the leader in the beginning to more of an encouraging passive leader because I discovered that if each member felt like they were the leader of a monthly project, they would feel more motivated and want to keep coming back for another turn to lead.
“We started with small projects and we were really unaware of the great need for help all over the area. Being so young it was hard at first to try to help every request, and financially we had to rely on grants and donations to help us complete projects.”
His efforts have only increased from there, focusing the majority of his work on the Philadelphia region while tackling a wide range of causes from hunger and homelessness to anti-bullying efforts. Further, he and his cousin, Nickole Xenakes, have developed a national network of friends who meet for one week each summer to help in other communities which have included Las Vegas and San Antonio.
Moncilovich couldn’t name what types of projects and causes are his favorite to take part in, but he couldn’t deny mentioning how much he likes to work with veterans since they have served to protect him, and the country.
Aside from the rewarding selflessness of his service, volunteerism has broadened many life-long skills that will prepare him for his future outside of The Haverford School including time management, working with teams, grant writing, and, as he noted, patience.
The Daily Point of Life Award is Moncilovich’s most recent accolade for his service, and it pushes him to help many more communities in the future.
“I think it is important to support our community in any way possible and volunteering is easy to do,” he said. “Making a small impact for good at a younger age is important, and especially now with social media to project positive messages to younger kids.”
Moncilovich aspires to attend Temple University or attend the U.S. Naval Academy when he graduates from The Haverford School.