High school junior Danial Khoshkehpazi was recently named Outstanding High School Red Cross Club Leader by the American Red Cross on Long Island, a designation honoring a student who displayed the greatest service involvement in the Red Cross.

To earn the award, Khoshkehpazi started an American Red Cross club at Deer Park (he also started Red Cross clubs at his previous high schools, Half Hollow Hills and Walt Whitman), convinced 35 students to join the club, volunteered for five years, and provided ideas for new Red Cross activities for high schools, including a first aid competition. He also recruited five people to compete in the Goldman Sachs Foundation’s Red Cross business plan competition.

“To determine the winner of the award, the American Red Cross on Long Island analyzed volunteers and what they did,” said Theodore Smirlis, adviser for Deer Park’s Red Cross chapter. “The volunteer who contributed the most time and came up with new projects was the winner, and that was Danial.”