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Three Teenagers will Receive Soap Box Derby's Volunteer Youth Service Awards

Three teenage volunteers of the Soap Box Derby program have been selected to receive the President’s Youth Volunteer Service Award, which recognizes volunteers under the age of 21 who have made a positive impact on the Soap Box Derby through their leadership on the local, regional or national level.

The 2018 recipients are Nick Hubbell of Johnstown, Ohio; Geordan Wells of Indianapolis, Ind., and Trevor Wiesner of Spencerport, N.Y.

“The three honorees for 2018 have been dedicated volunteers in their home communities and states, and have a tremendous commitment to the Soap Box Derby program,” said Mark Gerberich, president and chief executive officer of International Soap Box Derby.  “They all are veteran racers who are giving back to the Soap Box Derby through mentoring other young boys and girls and working to increase awareness of and participation in our youth racing program.”

• Hubbell, 19, raced in the Columbus, Ohio, Soap Box Derby from 2008 through 2017.  He won the local race in all three racing divisions—Stock, Super Stock and Masters—during his racing career. 

Hubbell has been an active volunteer in the Columbus Soap Box Derby since 2011, helping promote awareness of the racing program through workshops, exhibits and presentations to Boy Scouts, 4-H and other youth organizations throughout Central Ohio. He also has assisted in operations locally and nationally for the Gravity Racing Challenge STEM Team Competition presented by The University of Akron College of Engineering, the summer camp program, and the Super Kids race for youngsters with special needs.

 This fall, Nick will begin pursuing a degree in business and marketing at Franklin University in Columbus.      

• Wells, 17, has competed for seven years in local and rally Soap Box Derby races, earning six trips to the world championships in Stock and Super Stock divisions.  He has been a dedicated leader in the Indianapolis Inner City Youth Racing League for the past four years. He is a positive role model as he shares his Soap Box Derby knowledge and experiences of racer construction and driving skills with as many as 50 inner city youngsters annually. 

Wells is will be a senior this fall at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis.

• Wiesner, 16, has been racing since 2010 in local Rochester races and in rallies throughout the country.  He has made eight trips to the FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby—as the local Rochester Stock division champion in 2011, and as a rally competitor seven times by accumulating points in more than 20 rallies each year.

He helps with staging the local Rochester races and rallies, as well as the Gravity Racing Challenge STEM Team Competition. He is a co-driver in the Super Kids events and mentors young racers, for which he earned the Rochester local organization’s Sportsmanship Award in 2015.  

Trevor will be a junior at Spencerport High School in the fall.

The youth awards will be presented during the awards ceremony after the FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby’s world championships in Akron on July 21.