(bright upbeat music) - As we celebrate America 250, PBS teamed up with station's coast to coast to find America's awesome kids.

You can check out their stories online or in person at a special PBS Utah event, recognizing our own local awesome kids, like 10-year-old Patrick.

He was selected by PBS to be featured in the National Project, and he joins us now with Annie Frazier here in the studio with a sneak peek of the event.

Thank you for being here.

- Thank you for having us.

- Annie, tell me about this event and how it is in collaboration with the greater PBS initiative.

- You know, we really wanted to celebrate something, and do an event in between the 4th of July and the 24th of July to celebrate America 250 and to celebrate our awesome state, and especially the kids growing up here at this time.

And so we're having an event where we're gonna have some children's performances.

We're gonna screen some of the episodes from "America's Awesome Kids" and learn about kids from around the country and celebrate what it's like to be a Utah kid.

- And Patrick, what does it mean to you to be able to use your voice for this project and share your story with other kids?

- It's like really fun and nerve-wracking, and like, it's always sharing my story and like what it's like out and being recorded.

- One of the cool things that I saw was you were serving as a coach for younger kids and they were listening to you.

What's that like?

- It's like helping kids out, like to make sure they're safe at my school.

- Yeah.

Very important.

I can see why they selected you as an awesome kid because you have those leadership skills, you have so much to give, and Annie, isn't that an important part of highlighting kids in this project?

- Yes, definitely.

We wanna share the everyday excitement and just the daily to-dos in a child's life, but then we really wanna show how children in Utah are giving back.

We know that Utahns love our kids, we love our families, and we love showing up in our communities and serving, and to see that it doesn't matter how old you are, you can make a difference, it was wonderful.

- Absolutely.

Well, thank you for sharing your story and making a difference, Patrick, and thank you for being here, Annie.

If you would like to learn more about the event and how you can help celebrate Utah's Awesome Kids, the information is on your screen right now.

The event is on July 20th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center.

Just head to pbsutah.org so you can RSVP and get more information.

I'm Liz Adeola and thank you for watching "Contact."

(bright upbeat music) Philanthropy, Arts, culture.

It's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Liz Adeola, the host of Contact, a show that connects you with local events and organizations that serve your community.

If you work for a nonprofit and would like to be on Contact, please visit pbs.org/contact