Valley students honored for efforts to give back

PALMER — He sold seashells by the Seldovia seashore for the seals at the Seward Sea Life Center.

Although tough to say 10 times fast, Keefer Brown’s accomplishment is even more impressive when you learn he managed to sell $1,350 worth of shell-decorated candles dubbed “Seldovia’s Natural Treasures” to tourists and donated all the proceeds to the rehabilitation and feeding of harbor seals at the Sea Life Center when he was only 12.

And for that he was recently honored with a Spirit of Youth Award and recognized by the Mat-Su Borough School Board at its March 23 meeting.

Brown, now 13, was among three Valley students who received the awards among 22 recipients statewide in a variety of categories, including Overcoming Challenges, Science and the Environment, Lifesaver and Prevention, Service to Young Children, Service to Community, Fine Arts and Cultural Pursuits.

Emma German, an eighth-grader at Colony Middle School, was honored for choreographing eight tap dances for the cast of her school’s musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie” when she was 12.

And Mariah Newman, a senior at Palmer High School, was honored for being a strong advocate for international students at her school as a member of the International Club, working tirelessly with exchange students during and outside school.

Although Newman was on a school trip to Virginia last week when the awards were presented, PHS Assistant Principal Garth Morgan accepted hers and told the board he would present it to her during a school assembly this week.

Brown, a 13-year-old sixth-grader at Teeland Middle School, said Monday he was happy his efforts for the Sea Life Center have been recognized, but he’s mostly excited he’ll get to name the new harbor seal pup he’s “adopted” with his donation.

“The pup’s going to be born in May or June, but I’m keeping the name a secret for now,” Brown said. “I’ve spent a lot of time with my face pressed up against the windows at the Sea Life Center. The seals are just so playful. They feel exactly like a wet dog, but they don’t have any scent.”

When he saw an advertisement about “adopting” an animal at the center by donating funds, he knew that’s what he wanted to do. Having already collected shells, driftwood and seaweed during his frequent summer visits to Seldovia, his mother, Kim, encouraged him to use those items to decorate candles and try to sell them at the harbor.

“I wanted him to be able to do it himself and he likes candles, so it seemed like a natural fit,” his mother said. “The candles were so popular, he actually had a hard time keeping up with demand. He’d stay up late at night gluing the shells to the candles. He was so dedicated.”

Brown said he plans to sell them again this summer with the goal of raising $1,500 for the Sea Life Center this time.

He said the $500 scholarship he won with the Spirit of Youth Award will go into his college fund to study either paleontology or marine biology.

German, who has been dancing since she was 3, had experience helping choreograph the VPA play “Carousel” in 2009 and was thrilled when asked to help Colony Middle School music teacher Toby Lambert with dance numbers for the school’s musical last fall.

“She spent all summer working on those numbers,” her mother, Claire, said Monday. “We went to a performing arts camp in Washington state and she worked on it the entire drive down. Then at the camp, she found out that one of the leaders had starred in the same musical in college, so he was able to give her some pointers. It was serendipitous, for sure.”

With the help of longtime friend and fellow dancer Lynn Mastrocola, German said she had a blast teaching a cast of up to 20 how to pull off a variety of tap numbers in the 1920s-era setting.

“I was really excited about it because it was the first time I’d had a chance to create my own dances,” she said. “It took me a while to realize how much the others didn’t know about tap. I started with moderate stuff at first, but they all fell over. They got better by the end.”

German said that although she hopes to study aerospace engineering when she graduates from high school, she’d like to teach youth dance classes at Sonja’s Dance Studio when she gets to high school next year.

“I’m really grateful to Mr. Lambert for giving me this opportunity because without him I wouldn’t have been in the play,” she said. “And he never would have nominated me for the award.”

For more information on the Spirit of Youth program, visit spiritofyouth.org.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.