WINNER of the Giving Senior Give-Away!!

I am SO incredibly thrilled to announce the first-ever winner of my Giving Senior Give-Away!  I hope to make this an annual event from now on because hearing about what other seniors are doing within their school, community, church, etc. is so inspiring.  I want seniors to know that their wonderful actions do not go unnoticed by others around them!

It is my honor to announce that Kristen Lee from Lucas Christian Academy is the WINNER!!!  I received a beautiful nomination essay from Melinda Meredith that I would love to share with you all (shared with permission from Kristen’s mom and Melinda).

This essay is about an amazing senior, Kristen Lee.  Kristen is currently a senior at Lucas Christian Academy and is also my daughter’s piano teacher.  Two things that come to mind when I think of Kristen is how God has given her the gift of teaching and an incredible ability to communicate.  Kristen started teaching piano when she was just fifteen.  She often shares with me how she loves children, and how she feels she gets more out of teaching than her students.  Many times, her students share their personal struggles or feelings with her because of her age and her ability to listen and give wise council.  She recently went on a mission trip to Liepaja, Latvia, to work with children living in an impoverished, Russian naval port.  Many of the children had at least one parent, but the parent was typically not involved and the children were neglected.  Kristen spent a week with these children, loving them and sharing her love for the Lord.  She told me she wished she could have brought them all home with her!  While she was there, she was able to play the piano for the students and introduce them to songs about Jesus.  She is praying for an opportunity to return to Latvia and to find ways to continue to minister to the Latvian children.

 

Kristen also has been in many leadership positions with student council at her school.  She loves that her school encourages serving the community by providing opportunities for them to serve throughout the school year.  Some of her many activities include being involved in coordinating a canned food drive for a Catholic church in Allen, helping with Backyard Bible Clubs in Plano, serving with an apartment ministry in McKinney called Neighbor to Neighbor, serving food at the homeless shelter in Dallas, and playing the piano/keyboards for several church events.  One of these events that stand out in my mind is when Kristen played the keyboards at a church whose congregation had physical disabilities.  A few of the members were blind, had side effects from strokes, and many were in wheelchairs.  Kristen felt that these people ministered to her more than she was able to minister to them.  One event that Kristen helped coordinate for her school was an event called “LCA Serve Day.”  Being the Executive President, she helped locate and organize city-wide efforts of service for all grade levels.  The LCA Serve Day included kindergarten kids welcoming home American soldiers, feeding local firemen, serving food to families at a poor apartment complex, and arranging for their praise band to play at a Lovejoy Fall Festival.  I believe that all of these examples demonstrate Kristen’s truly generous and giving spirit and would love for you to consider Kristen for your Senior Session.   I think this portrait session would be a wonderful gift for Kristen to receive as a reward and to recognize her service to our community.  Thank you for your consideration!

Thank you again for the participation in the first ever Giving Senior Give-Away!  And a HUGE congratulations to our winner, Kristen!