Rotarian Vincent Chiravalle presents a Distinguished Student of Service certificate to LAHS junior Sadie Evans, on behalf of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos as her parents Emilia Evans and John Evans, and her grandmother Karen Evans share the moment, May 7, at Cottonwood on the Greens. Photo by Linda Hull
By VINCENT CHIRAVALLE
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
The motto of Rotary is Service Above Self. To support this motto in each academic year, the Rotary Club of Los Alamos honors “Distinguished Students of Service” in their junior year of high school.
Students are first nominated by their teachers who are asked to select those who:
- Have given positive contributions to their high school and/or in the community;
- Have a good attitude toward learning;
- Are good citizens, are respectful of their peers and teachers; and
- Have good grades, attendance and classroom participation.
The Club then selects students based on demonstrated spirit of service and exemplification of the Rotary 4 Way Test:
- Is it the truth?
- Is it fair to all concerned?
- Will it build good will and better friendships?
- Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
May 7 the Rotary Club of Los Alamos presented Sadie Evans, a Los Alamos High School junior with a Distinguished Student of Service award. Sadie is indeed one who has made service part of her life and she is a very well-rounded student. Sadie is Secretary of the Rotary Interact Club, and a member of the National Honor Society, the Key Club, and the Biblical Burrito Club. Sadie is the co-organizer of the Jemez Springs Friends of the Library Duck Race and has over 100 hours of community service since 2021. She is also a versatile and accomplished student athlete who competes on three Varsity teams: Cross Country, Swimming and Diving, and Track and Field. Sadie is an Olympic Weightlifter. In addition to these activities, she is a singer in the Los Alamos High School Belcanto Choir and plays the piano at the intermediate level. Sadie is studying for the Bilingual Seal in French.
In her essay Sadie shared with the Club one of the challenges facing today’s youth; namely the loss of the social skills needed to form close interpersonal relations due to the COVID pandemic and the need for more in person connections.
Sadie talked about a social event for high school students that she helped plan as part of the Interact Club called “Winter Night In.” This social event included all sorts of engaging activities such as making gingerbread houses and judging them.
Sadie described “Winter Night In” as follows, “This event was a success in part due to support from the adult Rotary Club. I believe that if more funding could be allocated to other clubs with similar service missions at school, we could increase community connection and participation. Some suggestions I have are other fun activities that are age appropriate including a teen zone during the County’s summer concert series. This could give students a place to hang out, grab food and drinks, and play fun games like cornhole. I’m hoping that some teenage events can bring more students together, increase their love for their community, and most importantly, boost confidence in themselves.”
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos feels that this is a very worthy effort and commends Sadie for her service to the youth in Los Alamos.
When receiving the award Sadie was joined by her mother Emilia Evans, her father John Evans, and her grandmother Karen Evans.
