First in a series

Collinsville kid wins Achiever award

Thirteen-year-old Kalina Kutriansky wanted to be a part of her school’s political scene. So, when she didn’t win the first time, she tried again.

The seventh grader at North Junior High School in Collinsville, Ill., didn’t win the race to be her room representative. So, she entered the student council race and was selected.

Participation in school politics was just one of Kalina’s accomplishments. Her well-rounded school and community life last month earned her a 2004 Gateway Young Achievers of the Year award.

Kalina Kutriansky

Again this year, Young Saint Louis.com will be profiling Young Achiever winners. Kalina’s profile is the first of five articles of 2004 elementary and middle school winners. For more about the Young Achiever program, visit www.youngachievers.us.

Kalina said, “I was planning to be the student representative for my class. But, I didn’t win. I wanted to be involved in student government so I ran for the student council.”

To run for the council, Kalina had to get a signature of 20 fellow students and three teachers. Then, she made posters and flyers and a campaign speech. She was picked for the student council and now serves as vice-president.

History teacher Robert Reeves said in her Young Achiever nomination that the vice-president position is “traditionally held by an 8th grader.”

She serves as the council’s historian. “That involves taking pictures to be used in the school scrapbook,” she said.

Kalina said she has been interested in government since she was in elementary school. “And I had debate in junior high,” she added.

The student council gets involved in projects around the school. Her favorite was the Hoops and Jumps for Heart program. That’s where kids participate in basketball and rope-jumping to raise money for the heart association.

“We had a pretty good turnout,” she said.

Other fund-raisers include Teddy-grams at Christmas, Flower-grams at Valentine’s Day and Bunny-grams at Easter.

But, politics is just one of a number of activities in which Kalina participates. They range from art competitions to sports to music and dance. Also, she’s been on her school’s academic honor roll since 1996.

She has had art entries in the Illinois PTA “Reflections” project advance to the nationals. Each year, the Illinois PTA announces an “I’m really happy, when...” theme and kids create artwork to match that theme.

The entries can be in any type of literary or visual art. Kalina does her’s in watercolor crayons. The family has several of her entries framed and hanging in the stairway leading to their home’s second floor.

In one of her entries, her artwork was titled, “I’m really happy when ...my parents tell me about Bulgaria.” She was born in this country but her parents, Boyko and Ena Kutriansky, come from the European country of Bulgaria.

Kalina’s entry was a watercolor painting of the mountainous area of Bulgaria where her father grew up.

She has been very active in music. She plays alto saxophone in three school bands. She’s in the overall school band and then also plays in the Pep and Jazz bands.

Kalina started music lessons on the piano when she was six. But, in 5th grade, she shifted to the alto sax. “We were given a choice of instruments and I thought alto sax was the neatest,” she said.

Her music schedule is a full one. Each band has weekly practices and then she has private sax lessons on Wednesday. She said she likes to practice. “I’ve played up to three hours at a time on the weekend,” Kalina added.

Last year, she participated in basketball and cheerleading. But, she said, “I had to quit because I couldn’t have been in Pep band.”

She hopes to continue her band participation in both high school and college. The Jazz band is her favorite. There are about 20-to-25 members, including four alto sax players.

Kalina also has had dance lessons since she was two. She’s participated in community dance shows such as “Grease,” “The Nutcracker,” “Cinderella” and “Newsies.”

Last year, she served as a “before school” reading tutor, helping younger elementary kids learn to read better. This summer, she wants to volunteer at the library.