Four young women from King’s Fork High School’s International Baccalaureate program learned some hard lessons this year when they put together a fundraising event for the American Heart Association — but in the end, everything turned out just fine.

The four won the award for Outstanding Group Citizenship at the Suffolk Youth Achievement Awards. They were joined by award winners for athletic achievement and youth leadership during the sixth annual event.

The “Arts 4 Hearts” event was the idea of group member Tavonia Claude, who does volunteer work on the heart ward at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. But her fellow team members quickly jumped on board.

Claude, along with Randi Miller, Shannon Gerton and Hannah Atkins — all rising seniors — organized the event as part of the required Community Action Service component of the IB program.

“We love art, and we love helping people,” Claude said. “We decided to do an art show and sell artwork.”

IB art instructor Stephanie Gwaltney said the four collected donations of art from school staff, teachers, fellow students, friends and people in the community and even created some art themselves.

They organized all of the logistics of the show, which included signing a lease with the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts. They priced all of the work and sold it, eventually making about $300 after expenses.

“I learned it takes money to make money,” said Atkins, who was treasurer for the group. “It’s very difficult to get a project off the ground, but to get it off the ground and see it work is one of the best things you can do.”

The four said they were stressed out during the planning of the event.

“I learned it’s not that easy to pull off a big event and how to handle the stress of it,” said Gerton, who was secretary of the effort. “I kept track of everything we had done and what we still needed to get done.”

Miller said it was gratifying to see the show come together.

“This is a way to help somebody, but in a fun, creative way,” she said. “We just did hard work and got the job done.”

Elizabeth Childs, also a rising senior in the International Baccalaureate program, won the Outstanding Youth Leadership Award. Her accomplishments include maintaining a 4.2 grade point average, winning first place in Hampton University’s Essay on Transportation contest and being nominated for the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists Award of Excellence. She hopes to become an engineer and to open a school that will serve as a boarding house for foster children and also serve exceptional children.

Tying for the Outstanding Athletic Achievement award were Noah Giles of Nansemond-Suffolk Academy and Emma Marston of King’s Fork High School.

Giles, a football player and track star, accumulated more than 1,600 all-purpose yards and 21 touchdowns in just one season. He was named first team all-state running back. On the track, he placed first in the 200-meter dash, triple jump and long jump during the 2015 Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools Championship. His academic and athletic achievements earned him an invitation to the U.S. Naval Academy’s summer seminar.

Marston, a three-sport athlete, has accumulated honors in field hockey, swimming and soccer. The earned all-conference honorable mention for field hockey and participated in college showcase programs for field hockey. She also participated in the conference and regional meets for swimming.

Also at the event, Renee Battle of T.E. Cooke-Overton Funeral Home was honored with the Youth Supporter of the Year Award for her work mentoring young ladies in the community.

“It is indeed an honor and a privilege to mentor young ladies in Suffolk,” she said. “Everything that I do comes from my heart.”