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Caught in the Act - May 2008
Lakewood’s Community Collaboration, made up of over 100 human service organizations, service clubs, businesses, individuals and public entities, each month present a “Caught in the Act-of Keeping Lakewood’s Promise” Award to an individual or organization that has quietly performed an outstanding deed for a family/child in the City of Lakewood. The May recipient is Terese High, the Community Relations Secretary for the Clover Park School District.
Terese led the planning, creation and assembly of the float for the School District - a job she has tackled for the past six years. "The District has been a part of the Daffodil Parade for as long as I can remember," said High. "I volunteer my time because I want to keep the tradition going for our students and our community."
Terese first started working on the float when her daughter Kylie was a candidate for Lakes High School's Daffodil princess in 2003. That year's candidates, along with their parents, were told that they would need to step-up and help with the production of the float in order to keep the District's long-standing participation in the annual parade going strong. Daffodil Festival rules state that communities and/or school districts must enter a float in order for the high schools to have princesses in the festival.
Students from Oakbrook Elementary and the Lakeview Hope Academy rode this year's float representing the schools attended by the princesses. Kelli Bornander, Lakes' princess and Brittany Ward, Clover Park's princess attending Oakbrook and Lakeview respectively.
Each year, the float is assembled in a donated bay at the bus barn courtesy of the transportation department. It takes approximately two weeks to assemble, but production starts long before that. Several community members, District staff and students helped paint, papier-mâché and decorate the float, which included the insertion of 4,000 daffodils.
While Terese High has been recognized by others for her efforts with the parade’s float, she is now recognized by Lakewood’s Community Collaboration, receiving the traveling Red Wagon, a symbol of Lakewood’s Promise of people pulling their weight to help the youth in Lakewood. She exemplifies our first promise by providing ongoing relationships with caring adults-parents, mentors, tutors and coaches, the second promise of providing safe places with structured activities during non-school hours and the fifth promise of offering youth opportunities to serve in their community.
Lakewood’s Promise mission is to mobilize people from every sector of life in Lakewood to build the character and competence of our youth by fulfilling these Promises:
- Caring Adults-Provide ongoing relationships with caring adults-parents, mentors, tutors and coaches
- Safe Places –Provide safe places with structured activities during non-school hours
- Healthy Start-Provide all the elements leading to good physical/mental health for a health future
- Marketable Skills-Provide marketable skills through effective education
- Opportunities to Serve-Provide youth with opportunities to serve in their community.
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