The holidays for people across the world were brighter thanks to Lida. Lida started her own project collecting shoes for Soles4Souls and was able to send 129 pairs of shoes to people in need. Additional holiday community service included wrapping gifts for the needy, making ornaments and frosting sugar cookies with children, and bringing the magic of the holidays to her favorite volunteering location, the nursing home, by decorating residents’ rooms. Lida also enjoys running bingo at the nursing home and serving food, but most of all, she loves the delight residents get from her painting their fingernails.
Other volunteer activities that have contributed to Lida’s 138 community service hours to date include volunteering for the Special Olympics State Bowling Championship and participating in Reggie’s Sleepout. Lida also volunteers at the public library, where she continually impresses the librarians with her work ethic.
In school, Lida maintains high marks. She’s active in Student Council, Academic Decathlon, TV News, French Club, Yoga Club, and will perform with the choral reading group in a January speech competition. Recently, she finished cross-country running.
During International Education Week, Lida gave 14 presentations, reaching over 500 people in her community. She played Armenian music, taught the Easter tradition of ‘egg-fighting’ and sampled traditional dishes. Lida published the recipe for gata, Armenian sweet bread, in the school newspaper.
Lida’s cultural sharing continued when she and her host sister made traditional Armenian dishes to share at Thanksgiving. Lida wrote she couldn’t have asked for better host siblings or a better host family.
Congratulations, Lida!