A High Schooler’s Quest for the Gold Award

Emma Antonides, Troop 15131 earning her Girl Scout Gold Award, Helping Kids with Disabilities through Art. – Courtesy Photo

By May S. Ruiz

Emma Antonides is a typical teenager living in the San Gabriel Valley. She does exceedingly well in school, plays the piano and viola, and puts in hundreds of hours performing community service. When she isn’t busy with school and homework as a student at LACHSA (Los Angeles County High School for the Arts) and viola lessons at the esteemed Colburn School, she enjoys watching comedy on TV. She also loves going to Disneyland.

But where Emma veers from the predictable, busy 16-year-old and perfect student with an eye towards going to the university of her choice, is her adherence to the Girl Scouts ideals and her empathy for kids with disabilities. For her Girl Scouts Gold Award project, Emma identified what she thought would be a good activity to work on. Based on her affinity for kids she decided to partner with AbilityFirst, an organization that provides opportunities for people with physical and developmental disabilities.

With the help of her adviser, Stephanie Yamasaki, Emma set an appointment with Jenny Valadez, project supervisor at AbilityFirst’s Lawrence L. Frank Center in Pasadena. From her conversation with Ms. Valadez she learned that the center did not have art classes. Thus, after-school art classes at AbilityFirst were established as her Gold Award Project for the Girl Scouts.

Emma Antonides helping AbilityFirst student do symmetric painting. – Courtesy Photo

Emma let AbilityFirst know about her plan and handed in the specifics of the proposed after-school art program to Ms. Valadez. She coordinated with Ms. Valadez on what lessons she was going to teach and the class format. Ms. Valadez suggested 90 minute classes – 30 minutes of art, 30 minutes of interactive break for playtime, and then back to art for the last 30 minutes.

The first step for Emma was to fill out a proposal application for the Gold Award, which she did in January. In March, she submitted this application, where she identified herself, her adviser, her project plan, and a letter of approval from Ms. Valadez on behalf of AbilityFirst. Emma then awaited an interview. During the interview, she presented her project to members of the Girl Scouts Service Center, who gave her feedback on whether she got the approval or if her proposal needed any improvement. Once she got the approval for her idea, she was given six months to start and finish her project.

And so, beginning on July 1st through the 31st, Emma held art classes two days a week where she taught the three basic categories of color theory and color harmony. Using multiple forms, she showed and worked with kids on finger painting, rainbow scratch paper art, an innovative class that uses dip-o-dot markers, and candy leis.

Emma Antonides, Troop 15131 earning her Girl Scout Gold Award, Helping Kids with Disabilities through Art. – Courtesy Photo

To support this art program, Emma undertook fundraising events like a bake and jewelry sale. She also partnered with Panda Inn where she received 20% of the restaurant’s earnings for one day from people who mentioned that they were helping Emma earn her Gold Award. Additionally, she got cash donations from family, friends, and members of the community and personal donations from members of the San Marino Rotary Club.

Using the money she raised, Emma bought art supplies she used for the afterschool classes and funded an Open House to raise awareness about AbilityFirst. She also donated art supplies to enable AbilityFirst to continue holding after school art classes in years to come. This ensures that her project will live on, a requirement of the Girl Scout’s Gold Award. Furthermore, she has informed Ms. Valadez that she will be coming back next summer as a mentor to the new project leader.

Emma finished teaching the kids at AbilityFirst, created a collage of all her students’ artwork, and returned to the Lawrence L. Frank Center to show the children and center staff a video of the art classes they held. In late September, she will give a presentation of her project outcome to the Girl Scouts. She’ll then learn if she has earned a Gold Award.

But whether Emma achieves that coveted Gold Award or not, she did accomplish something extraordinary — she did something she has never done before. In Emma’s words, “During the course of this undertaking, I discovered just what I am capable of. With guidance from Stephanie, I learned to take action, manage a project, communicate and raise awareness, plan and bring a project to life. And, along the way, I learned to be a leader, how to deal with unexpected problems, and be a teacher.” Valuable lessons indeed!

Emma continued, “This experience revealed many things about myself. I realized I could do even more that I thought – I feel confident about by abilities to teach, and be a leader. It exposed me to working with people of different backgrounds, talents, and personalities. And it taught me how to keep the focus on the goal.”

A respected English teacher from Pasadena’s most prestigious school once exhorted to her students that they should never use the term “quest” unless it was to denote a hero’s search. For Emma, this was a journey into hitherto unexplored territory that led to the unearthing of self-knowledge. What could be a better hero’s quest?

More from Arcadia Weekly