"What it Means to Serve your Country"

Lifelong Grand Terrace/Colton resident Venora Seay, 16, is going on nine years of involvement with Girl Scout Troop 686, encompassing the Grand Terrace and Colton areas. After years of preparation, the time has come for Seay to plan her Gold Award Project-her subject of choice: a community-wide Memorial Day art contest. The first of its kind in the Blue Mountain city, the Memorial Day art contest will kick off May 8 as youth from throughout the city are invited to the Grand Terrace REC Center to obtain art supplies, donated by The REC Center and resident Amanda Betten, and learn about the origin and history of Memorial Day from Seay herself. Attendees on May 8 will also participate in a craft, which will be donated to either a local military base or veterans care facility. Seay says, "I don't see a lot of events for children on historical days and for my project I wanted to get them involved. I don't see the people who sacrifice their lives getting enough credit and I'm hoping to change that." Youth from grades 1-12 are invited to participate in the art contest themed "what it means to serve your country." Submissions for the art contest must be turned in May 13 from 4-8 p.m. at The REC Center located at 12139 Mt. Vernon Avenue Suite 203 in Grand Terrace, on the second floor. Bob Lavin, Seay's project advisor and the Chairman for the Veterans Wall of Freedom, said, "I work with a lot of youth and a lot of them don't know what Memorial Day is, they just know they're going to go to the lake or go to a BBQ, so that's why I like to get the youth involved and teach them that we're honoring the vets that've sacrificed their lives so we can have the freedom we have today." After the submissions are turned in, a group of committee members from the Veterans Wall of Freedom Committee will meet to judge the submissions. Winners will be on display at the Veteran's Wall of Freedom Memorial Day Observance event being held at Pico Park on May 25. Starting at 11 a.m., the community is invited to gather together at Pico Park in Grand Terrace to honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives for this country. Audra Seay, Venora's mother who has home-schooled Venora for the majority of her educational career, said, "I feel privileged to watch my daughter pull this together and I also am happy about the Memorial Day observation. I appreciate the vets servicemen, and service women and the sacrifice thy make for our freedom." Venora shares that part of her motivation for the project comes from her family's service in the military; her dad served as a diesel mechanic in the army and her brother has plans of serving as well.