JBER Public Affairs
6/5/2013 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Here on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, there are many military youths who are recognized for volunteer efforts that help the community.
One of those youths shone brightest and was honored for his work.
Meet Gage Dabin. Dabin, 17, has been named the Military Youth of the Year for Alaska and Pacific Air Forces.
He has also been nominated for the Air Force Military Youth of the Year award and will head to Washington, D.C., to compete with other military youths from across the United States in September.
"My wife and I have always instilled the principle of "not what you can do for me, but what I can do for you" into our children and have helped them realize that it's a much bigger world outside of their bubble," said Dabin's father, Senior Master Sgt. Tobias Adam, 673d Civil Engineer Squadron. "So I believe Gage has personified this the most."
"Gage is known by many to be a well-versed individual who has done a lot of public speaking at the school he attends and public functions on base," said Seante Banks, 673d Force Support Squadron, teen program coordinator at the Kennecott Youth Center.
"I would spend hours upon hours practicing speeches," Dabin said. "As I'm aware, children in the Lower 48 are provided camps and facilities where they can practice public speaking. I have to rely on my will and those around me to get things done."
Dabin went onto explain why he devotes so much to his craft as a leader.
"I see myself as an individual who just wants to get out there and make a difference in the JBER community," Dabin said. "Most of my extracurricular activities involve school, volunteering and sports."
Like his father, Dabin is an ardent sports player and has been involved in such activities as varsity wrestling, track and field, soccer and Cross Fit physical training.
He said he uses the fundamentals of sports to accomplish his community goals.
"Gage has been volunteering all his life in such places as Texas, Missouri, Illinois and Alaska on various Air Force installations," Adam said.
While in Texas, Dabin contributed to numerous volunteer opportunities. One in particular was Relay For Life, which is dedicated to raising cancer awareness.
Dabin said he feels his involvement with the event made a huge difference in people's perspective of the disease.
Since realizing his mother was diagnosed with cancer, the cause has become more important to him.
Dabin has coordinated base events involving school education and child development, as well as off-base events across the Anchorage area using the organizations he is a part of as a medium to get his message across.
"I've always been the type of person to just do my own thing, to conceive my own ideas and those around me have always called me a thinker," Dabin said. "I'm always careful before I do something and always backtrack before declaring I'm done."
One of the many groups Dabin is a part of is known as Keystone, which is handled through the JBER-Elmendorf Teen Center and promotes local events like an Easter egg hunt at Easter.
He is also associated with the Anchorage Youth Advisory Board. He assists the board by orchestrating Anchorage and JBER events, such as setting up a themed booth for the Teen Expo at the Egan Center for Anchorage's annual Kids Day.
This year, Dabin and his peers decided to tackle the issue of bullying.
"We would have individuals come into the booth, wear a giant pair of headphones connected to a speaker and have an individual speak into the microphone and pay that person compliments," Dabin said. "We used this method of approach to raise the self-esteem of kids and teens to fight bullying."
To further their message, Dabin and his peers are also collecting information from the experiment and assembling a video expressing that it is good to present someone with a compliment because one simple phrase can brighten a person's day.
Thanks to his work around the community, Dabin has also been nominated to be a part of the State Council involving educational opportunity for military children.
Dabin aspires to become a military service member like his father. He would seem to fit right in because, already, he personifies the Air Force core value of "Service Before Self."
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