We thought it would rain but, alas, we got barely enough to measure in the rain gauge. Now we’re back to beautiful blue skies and perfect fall temperatures. Our ground needs moisture badly, but even so it is hard to complain when fall days are so beautiful.
Today Around Davidson visits with youth in our town. The Cub Scouts are performing community service; Sarah Sullivan is playing her flute in recital and Sophia Spach is helping raise awareness of disabilities to earn a Gold Award in Girl Scouting.
Sarah Sullivan
SARAH IN RECITAL
Mark your calendars for this Sunday, Nov. 21, at 3 p.m. at St. Alban’s Church in the New Neighborhood to hear a marvelous flute recital. Sarah Sullivan, daughter of Lynn and Bill Sullivan, will perform her senior recital. A flute student of Shirley Gilpin for the past eight years, Sarah is a senior at North Mecklenburg High School hoping to pursue a college degree in Flute Performance.
For the Sunday recital, Sarah will play from a program including J. S. Bach Sonata in E. Major, Mercadante Concerto in E. minor, Jolivet Chant de Linos and Mozart Concerto No. 2 in D Major. She will be accompanied on the piano by Emily Jarrell Urbanek.
This talented young lady is also very involved in local music ensembles such as the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Charlotte Youth Wind Ensemble. She also plays in her high school symphonic band and is a part of the All-District and All-State Honors Bands.
This special music recital is free and open to the public. What a nice way to honor a very musical high school senior and let her know how much you appreciate her hard work and hours of practice with your applause on Sunday.
Graeme Elrod, Spencer Barnes and James Shaul (l-r) assemble snacks for the Ada Jenkins after-school program.
LENDING A HAND
Boy Scouting and Davidson seem to go hand-in-hand. And this year, Davidson’s Cub Scout Pack 58 is one of only three in the Hornet’s Nest District that boasts enrollment of 100 scouts or more. (For Davidson that is 33 percent growth over last year.) And what have the scouts in Pack 58 been up to recently? Community service.
Three Webelos from Pack 58 gathered on Veterans Day to help assemble snacks for the Ada Jenkins Center after-school program. “We wanted to help the kids get a healthy snack after school,” said James Shaul, a fifth-grader at Davidson Elementary. “Pack 58 sold a lot of popcorn last year, so now we can do things to help others,” said Spencer Barnes, also in fifth grade at Davidson. Graeme Elrod was also lending a helping hand packing the snack bags. In addition to helping with the after-school program, scouts in this pack also created and delivered 110 hygiene kits to the Ada Jenkins Loaves and Fishes program.
These three young elementary school boys are part of Webelo Den 9 which has 17 boys on the roster. They were available to work on behalf of the entire pack on Nov. 11 and assemble the snack packs. Kudos to these energetic scouts and all others in Pack 58. Won’t be long until they are active boy scouts in Davidson’s Troop 58.
Wearing her Girl Scout vest, Sophia proudly displays information about her Gold Award work on behalf of UMAR
GIRL SCOUTING’S TOP AWARD FOR SOPHIA SPACH
Sophia Spach, daughter of Rob and Gail Spach, has been a girl scout since third grade. Now she finds herself at the pinnacle of her scouting career as she completes the requirements for her Gold Award, the highest award a girl can earn in Girl Scouting. As the handbook states, “To achieve a Girl Scout Gold Award, substantial requirements must be met prior to project approval. Girls must choose and research an issue, then create a plan that achieves measurable and sustainable impact.”
Sophia’s interest in working with adults with disabilities came after a Methodist youth visit to Camp Tekoa during Barnabas week, which focused on helping those less able to cope with everyday life. She decided that a promotional video on UMAR (a United Methodist group that works with people with developmental and intellectual disabilities) would raise awareness and encourage congregational involvement. Her idea was to produce a DVD that could be shared in churches to educate members about UMAR and how they could get involved.
Sophia with Marilyn Garner the Director of Development of UMAR.
A senior at Woodlawn School and a member of Girl Scout Troop 551 (with leaders Shelly Knight and Donna Fayko), 18-year-old Sophia presented the DVD plan to Girl Scout Headquarters and received the go-ahead for the project. She began her project in February of this year after 4 months of preparation. It took her 9 months to complete, over 100 hours on the project itself. Davidson United Methodist Church (DUMC) members Steve Szilagyi acted as narrator and local audio Engineer Ed Beam recorded the narration. Susan Heafner-Heun, Senior Associate Pastor of DUMC, was Sophia’s mentor and appears in the video. Sophia’s brother, Kester, who is 16 and a junior at Hough High School, heled edit the video. In addition, Sophia’s dad, Rob Spach, wrote much of the script using Sophia’s ideas.
Sophia presented the video three times at Davidson United Methodist Church (where she is an active member of the Youth Program). The DVD was also sent to all of the churches in the Lake Norman District of the United Methodist Church as part of an effort to raise funds and inspire volunteers for the new UMAR independent living home that is being built on the grounds of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church. Sophia’s 10-minute video can be seen on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxt6IuFCygE
With all the information submitted to Girl Scout HQ, Sophia has received the news that her months of work have been well received by the Hornet’s Nest Council and she has been awarded her Gold Award. The actual presentation will come in the Spring of 2011. At that time we will be sure to update this news with a photo of the awards ceremony. Congratulations, however, Sophia, ahead of time on a job well done!
Send us your news
Have news for Around Davidson? Write to Brenda Barger at hbarger@bellsouth.net.
