KINGFIELD – The Phillips Middle School Student Council/Student Government are the first recipients of the Jane deFrees Youth Rural Leaders Award.

The award was presented Thursday during the Western Mountains Alliance’s 20th anniversary celebration held at Webster Hall.

As a founding member of the alliance, the award was developed this year to honor deFrees commitment to the people of Western Maine and to recognize a youth-led social action group that has made a significant contribution to western Maine’s future.

In nominating the Phillips school for the award, student council adviser Paula Roy mentioned three of the council’s activities. Their work and fundraising for Relay For Life, the school’s own constitutional government and a brochure developed by last year’s fifth grade that highlights Phillip area attractions and is now available at informational kiosks along the interstate and turnpike, she said.

The school’s constitution, written during John Calloway’s history class in 1988, resembles the U.S. Constitution, she said.

“It’s a government of the students, by the students, for the students,” Roy said. “It’s democracy in action.”

Grades five to eight are involved, with classes in six to eight considered as states and grade five as an unorganized territory. Each class elects their own officers and senators to represent them on the student council.

Developed to help teach students the process of our government, it has become a model to three other schools, said Deb Burd as she presented the award to the school’s council President Bridget Blood and Vice President Alix Howard.

Burd, who had worked with deFrees, told the girls she was a great mentor and teacher who had supported her with wisdom, wit and passion.

The third element of the award, the brochure, was written after the Phillips Area Chamber of Commerce sought the school’s council help to develop material that highlighted local attractions in the Phillips area.

As the fifth grade was already studying local history, Roy said, it seemed appropriate for the class to take on the project. They wrote paragraphs describing places such as Daggett Rock, Lindbergh Airport and Mt. Blue along with some of the special events that take place in the Phillips area throughout the year. The tri-fold brochure is available for tourists within the state.

Accepting the award, the girls said their school council’s 20th anniversary is next year and that they will enjoy spending the $500 gift that is part of the award.

The Alliance also awarded their biennial King Cummings Leadership Award to Piscataquis Tourism Task Force.

Following a meal that featured foods from local farms, guest speaker Joel Haskard from a program similar to the Alliance in Minnesota spoke about helping Maine communities shape their energy future.

Twenty years ago, a group of civic-minded people from across Western Maine gathered to seek a plan for an area struggling with the loss of manufacturing jobs.

A diverse group of business and community leaders was brought together by King Cummings to talk about economic and community development. From that meeting, the Western Mountains Alliance was founded.

“Our core value, mostly, is to try to create a place for diverse voices and perspectives to get together,” Tanya Swain, the alliance’s executive director, previously said. “We try to make connections between people or organizations who are working on things or who have new ideas and new opportunities.”