By McKenna MIDDLETON

For Katelyn Carole (Katie) Blood, CVHS sophomore and member of the La Crescenta Girl Scout Troop 491, a love for music and drama means more than just participating in CVHS marching band or theater productions. Her talents and passions inspired a recent act of service to the La Crescenta community: Blood’s Girl Scout Gold Award project.

A Girl Scout Gold Award project must have a positive, sustainable impact on the community. After much planning and preparation, Blood set out to work with about 20 children, ages 4-5, at Cloud Preschool by teaching them original plays. At the end of the month, they put on the skits and puppet shows as a showcase for the other preschool classes.

“I have noticed that many children lack confidence and the ability to speak in front of people,” Blood said. “I decided to use my drama skills [from many years of taking drama class and performing on stage] to help young children develop self-confidence. We focused on having good eye-contact, speaking up and memorization.”

Blood wrote 15 original short plays, each with a simple moral such as being kind and sharing. After the plays were written, she made sock puppets, collected costumes and props, and spent two hours every weekday during the month of June teaching the students her plays, skits and puppet shows.

“Katie is a remarkable young woman,” said Katie Blood’s mother Dena. “She is motivated, responsible and a self-starter. She was in the driver’s seat of this project from start to finish. We could not be prouder of her.”

Blood donated all of the costumes and puppets to the school so that students can continue to perform the original plays at Cloud Preschool. Blood worked over 80 hours to complete the project and, even though she sometimes felt overwhelmed and exhausted, she enjoyed every minute of the venture.

“I really enjoyed working with the children. I loved seeing them smile after they learned a hard concept,” Blood said. “This experience made me realize I really want to be a school teacher in the future. Getting my Gold Award helped me find a way to reach out from myself, and serve others.”

  Mckenna MIDDLETON