National Press Release

Winners at top of class in both academics and community service

TORRANCE, Calif., June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., (TMS) is rewarding 100 high school seniors with $1 million in college scholarships for their commitment to education and community service.

The 12 national and 88 regional winners, who make up the 13th class of Toyota Community Scholars, were chosen from a pool of more than 8,000 students nationwide nominated by their schools. To be eligible, students must be proven leaders both in the classroom and in their communities.

Based on their achievements, the 2009 class will continue helping others on their journey as college students. "I know that I will only find happiness and fulfillment in my life by dedicating my time to something meaningful - something that makes a difference in the world, in mankind, or in somebody's life," said Scholar Ethan Soodak of Silver Spring, Md.

For the 2009 class, their contributions to the global community are far reaching and range from raising $1.5 million for the eradication of neurological disease, to providing medical and educational resources for over 4,000 orphans in Southern Asia.

"In these tough economic times, it is particularly rewarding to see these students having such a tremendous impact in their communities," said Michael Rouse, TMS vice president of philanthropy and community affairs. "They are stellar examples of service and commitment and remind us all what's really important."

Valued at $20,000 each for national winners, and $10,000 for regional, the scholarships are awarded over four years beginning in the fall of 2009 for study at a four-year college or university. Since the Toyota Community Scholars program began in 1997, TMS has awarded over $14 million in scholarships to 1,300 students across the U.S.

Jourdan Urbach, a Toyota Community Scholar from Roslyn Heights, NY, demonstrates the dedication to community service by the members of this year's class. As the founder of Children Helping Children (CHC), Urbach established Concerts for a Cure to utilize his gift as a talented violinist to raise $1.5 million in the fight against neurological disease. CHC funds provide materials for music therapy in pediatric playrooms, medical equipment, home healthcare for patients with advanced disease and grants for cutting edge neurological research.

Determined to create a "youthquake" across the globe by putting a face on philanthropy in healthcare, Urbach has encouraged 700 young musicians to get involved in this international movement.

"I have learned through my years of service that there is no age limit for doing something extraordinary for humanity," says the scholar. "My dream is to see symphony orchestras and young soloists working together in every city around the world, raising funds and awareness to cure neurological disease through their art."

The national and regional winners were selected by a panel of college and university admissions officials from across the U.S. The Toyota Community Scholars program is administered by Educational Testing Services in Princeton, N.J.

About Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. is the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion. Established in 1957, TMS markets products and services through a network of more than 1,400 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealers. Toyota directly employs more than 34,000 people in the U.S. and sold more than 2.2 million vehicles in 2008.

NOTE:

*A list of Toyota Community Scholars is below.

*A "snapshot" of specific community service projects is below.

*Upon request, digital photographs of individual Scholars can be sent electronically. Please e-mail request to: tisha@tobinpr.com

                             2009 TOYOTA COMMUNITY SCHOLARS


                           CITY                HIGH SCHOOL

    ALABAMA
    Wade Ash               Atmore              Escambia Academy

    ARIZONA
    Grace Do               Chandler            Corona Del Sol High School

    ARKANSAS
    Cody Hooks             Little Rock         Wilbur D Mills Univ Studies HS

    CALIFORNIA
    Nicholas Davis         Fresno              Clovis West High School
    Trevor Geller          Foothill Ranch      Trabuco Hills High School
    Preeya Goyal           Temecula            Great Oak High School
    Tavish Nanda*          Alamo               Monte Vista High School
    Harleen Sethi          Modesto             Fred C Beyer High School
    Ann Wang*              Rancho Cucamonga    Los Osos High School
    Frankie Wong           Artesia             Gretchen Whitney High School
    Connie Wu              Cupertino           Monta Vista High School

    COLORADO
    Rachel Buchmeier       Loveland            Loveland High School
    Sarah Linke*           Castle Rock         Rock Canyon High School

    DELAWARE
    Rebecca Godwin         Milford             Milford Senior High School

    FLORIDA
    Alexis Dempsey         Wesley Chapel       Berkeley  Preparatory
    Tura Magley            Bradenton           Manatee High School
    Samuel Morales         West Palm Beach     Cardinal Newman High School
    Rohit Thummalapalli    Hialeah             American Heritage Sch Plantatn
    Andrew Zarzeski        Lutz                Freedom High School

    GEORGIA
    Melissa Adams          Cumming             South Forsyth High School

    HAWAII
    Kimberly Lee           Honolulu            Punahou School

    ILLINOIS
    Kathleen Leinweber     Woodstock           Woodstock High School
    Kevin McDermott        Burr Ridge          Lyons Township HS N Campus
    Gabrielle
     Vanspeybroeck         East Moline         United Township High School

    INDIANA
    Erin Biel              Carmel              Park Tudor School
    Taylor Sanders         Bedford             Bedford-North Lawrence HS


    IOWA
    Jeralyn Westercamp     Cedar Rapids        John F. Kennedy High School

    KANSAS
    Melissa Mckittrick     Mission Hills       Shawnee Mission East High
    Dakota Meyers          Hoisington          Hoisington High School

    KENTUCKY
    Joseph Konerman        Edgewood            Saint Xavier High School
    Katherine Lutes        Union               Larry A. Ryle High School
    Sarah Rudolph          Paducah             Paducah Tilghman High School

    LOUISIANA
    Raven Hollins          Bastrop             Bastrop High School
    Seena Khosravi         Baton Rouge         Baton Rouge Magnet High School
    David Rudd             Deridder            Deridder High School

    MARYLAND
    Peter Andes            Berlin              Stephen Decatur High School
    Ethan Soodak*          Silver Spring       James Hubert Blake High
    Sitara Weerasuriya     Olney               Sherwood High School

    MASSACHUSETTS
    Emily Cunningham       Weymouth            Cardinal Spellman High School
    Anokhee Mepani         Westwood            Westwood High School

    MICHIGAN
    Hemant Gandhi*         Okemos              Okemos High School
    Emily Hsiao            Ann Arbor           Huron High School
    Kathryn Vanham         Richmond            Richmond High School

    MINNESOTA
    Ashlee Kephart*        Brooklyn Center     Park Center Senior High School
    Derek Rood             Pequot Lakes        Pequot Lakes High School
    Chantal Wilson         Greenbush           Greenbush Middle River HS

    MISSOURI
    Samuel Pelts           Warrenton           Warren County R-III Senior
    Allison Pettit         Aurora              Aurora R-VIII High School

    MONTANA
    Kelsey Cable           Saint Ignatius      St. Ignatius High School

    NEBRASKA
    Tyler Gifford          Harrisburg          Banner County Schools
    Danika Young           Atkinson            West Holt High School
    Daniel Zhou            Lincoln             Lincoln Southwest High School

    NEVADA
    Melanie Malinas        Reno                The Davidson Academy of NV

    NEW HAMPSHIRE
    Nicholas Letizio       Windham             Salem High School

    NEW JERSEY
    Katherine Adams        Rumson              Ranney School
    Matthew Certner        Morristown          Morristown High School
    Molly Roy              Moorestown          Moorestown High School
    Marisa Sanders         Hackettstown        Hackettstown High School

    NEW MEXICO
    Shelby Gonzales        Maxwell             Maxwell High School

    NEW YORK
    Mariam Braimah         Hauppauge           Hauppauge High School
    Eugenia Gurvich        Hawthorne           Westlake High School
    Noah Sheinbaum         Chappaqua           Horace Greeley High School
    Sujay Tyle             Pittsford           Pittsford Mendon High School
    Jourdan Urbach*        Roslyn Heights      Roslyn High School
    Alexa Zahl             New York            Horace Mann School

    NORTH CAROLINA
    Michael Atkins         Pikeville           Charles Baycock High School
    Julie Crimmins         Chapel Hill         Chapel Hill High School
    Milan Kantesaria       Fayetteville        Fayetteville Academy
    John Turner            Raleigh             Middle Creek High School

    OHIO
    Andrew Schultze        Kettering           Kettering High School

    OKLAHOMA
    Lashun Oakley          Ada                 Latta High School
    Emily Sanders          Oklahoma City       Western Heights High School

    OMAN
    Sahar Khan*            Muscat              American British Academy

    PENNSYLVANIA
    Rebecca Adelsheim      Pittsburgh          Ellis School
    James Creeley          Williamsport        Saint John Neumann Regional
    Alison Geesey          Spring Mills        Penns Valley Area Jr-Sr HS
    Vinay Trivedi          Newton              Princeton Day High School

    SOUTH CAROLINA
    Melanie Zhao           Florence            West Florence High School

    SOUTH DAKOTA
    Emily Sperry*          Bath                Roncalli High School

    TENNESSEE
    Tiffany Carpenter      Thompsons Station   Independence High School
    John Loehle            Wartrace            Tullahoma High School
    Lauren Lyke            Strawberry Plains   Jefferson County High School

    TEXAS
    Molly Dudensing        Sagerton            Rule High School
    Bonnie Duncan          San Benito          San Benito High School
    Julie England          Winters             Winters High School
    Tyler Folse            Houston             Saint Thomas Episcopal
    Patrick Foster         Sachse              Sachse High School
    Aditya Kumar           Stafford            Stafford High School
    Alexa Sassin           Houston             Saint John's High School
    Jordan Sessler*        Austin              Liberal Arts and Science Aca.

    UTAH
    Bradley Jencks         South Jordan        Bingham High School

    VERMONT
    Chris Appleton*        Barre               Spaulding High School

    VIRGINIA
    David Ramish           Vienna              Thomas Jefferson HS Sci/Tec

    WASHINGTON
    Brenna Fallon          Seattle             Seattle Preparatory High School
    Lauren Kuhn            Aberdeen            Weatherwax (Aberdeen) HS
    Stephanie Nicholson    Camas               Camas Senior High School
    Misbah Uraizee         Bellevue            Sammamish High School
    Brian Vance*           Yakima              Selah High School

    WISCONSIN
    Emily Jordan           Black River Falls   Black River Falls High School
    Natalia Thompson       Madison             West High School


    * National winner - $20,000 scholarship
    All others receive $10,000 scholarship

2009 TOYOTA COMMUNITY SCHOLARS

Community Service Snapshots

Following is a sampling of community-service projects performed by the 2009 class of Toyota Community Scholars (more detail can be provided upon request; student interviews can also be arranged).

    --  Founded Children Helping Children (CHC), a musical charity foundation
        which raises funds through Concerts for a Cure for hospitals, research
        and international medical organizations targeting neurological disease.
        The award-winning concert violinist has raised $1.5 million performing
        at numerous benefit concert venues including Carnegie Hall. He has
        encouraged 700 young musicians to spearhead CHC satellite chapters
        across the nation with the common goal of saving lives through music. 
        (Jourdan Urbach, Roslyn Heights, NY)
    --  Personally inspired by the passing of his grandfather, this Scholar
        established SeniorLink to familiarize nursing home residents with
        computers, while reaping the benefits of keeping their minds active and
        alert. SeniorLink refurbishes donated computers and distributes them to
        senior centers in Bucks County and northern New Jersey. Since its
        inception, the organization has collected more than 75 computers and
        also hosts weekly hands-on and user-friendly skill-building sessions for
        seniors.  (Vinay Trivedi, Newtown, Penn.)
    --  Forever changed by touching stories from orphans while traveling to
        Asia, this Scholar created Foundations for Joy to improve the lives of
        orphans in Southern Asia.  Providing necessities such as food, water,
        shelter, medical care, educational resources and vocational training,
        the organization distributed $65,000 worth of aid to 4,042 children in
        2008.  Foundations for Joy works with 37 different orphanages, has
        raised a total of approximately $100,000 and is also working to provide
        permanent, reliable sources of electricity to orphanages in Sri Lanka
        through the installation of solar generators.  (Jordan Sessler, Austin,
        TX)
    --  Founded CarbonNeutralVolunteers.org (CNV), which is dedicated to raising
        global awareness on climate change and promoting green lifestyle changes
        through an innovative concept of volunteer carbon credits.  Raised
        $20,000 for solar ovens in Tanzania and solar water heaters at
        Michigan-based Okemos High School and a hospital in Peru.  This
        student's group has also sold hundreds of CFL bulbs during
        door-to-door drives. Having represented CNV at several global events,
        his goal is to nurture a new generation of climate leaders.  (Hemant
        Gandhi, Okemos, Mich.)

    --  Beginning as an Eagle Scout service project, this Scholar went the extra
        mile to identify thousands of unrecorded gravesites at a local ghost
        town cemetery.  Organizing over 2,000 volunteers, his team restored
        grave markers, installed headstones, identified 1,100 unknown burials in
        a 1,500 page cemetery book, established a wall of honor for 1,825
        individuals, created an information center, fence, road and monument
        dedicated to honor veterans from 6 wars.  He helped to raise $50,000 in
        relation to the project and produced documentaries for The History
        Channel and Roots Television. Research was donated to libraries, the
        State Historical Society and free websites to connect people with their
        living relatives and heritage.  (Bradley Jencks, South Jordan, UT)

SOURCE Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.