Last in a Series

Young Achiever looks for new ways to serve

Brianna Jones

Twelve-year-old Brianna Jones is in a new school this year. But, she's planning on staying as active as she was last year.

Her past accomplishments in school, at church and in her neighborhood last spring earned her a 2004 Young Achiever of the Year award.

Last year, school activities ranged from being a student council representative to playing trombone in the Grannemann Accelerated School band. She also was part of the school's broadcast team that handled daily school announcements.

Grannemann counselor Jazell Thomas said, "I have watched Brianna consistently demonstrate leadership skills. She's first to volunteer with any project our school has."

In church, she was in the Music Marker's Children's Choir and performed in the "clown ministry." That program gives shows both in church as well as in the community. Brianna was usually a "butterfly" in the shows.

In the neighborhood, she helps to do yard work for older residents. She also sponsors a 5-year-old child in Haiti through the World Vision program.

This fall, Brianna is a 7^th grader at North County Christian Academy. Although she's at a new school, she's already checked on chances of being a student council rep.

She's also planning on playing soccer next spring. And she'll perform with the school band. She wants to be involved in art this year.

She'll continue with her church activities and is on the look out for other ways to serve.

Asked about where her interests in service come from, Brianna points to her stepmother, Gayle. "It's all her fault," she jokes. "But, it's fun," she added.

Young Saint Louis.com has profiled winners in the Young Achievers programs for three years. The coverage starts in the spring with an overall winner story in May. Then, we follow with monthly profiles of the elementary and middle school winners.

(For more information on the Achiever program, log on to www.youngachiever.us. Our earlier stories this year were in May, June, July, August and September.)

But, Brianna also has time for hobbies. One of them is horseback riding.

She has to travel quite a ways to ride. Her horse, named Amy Rosalie, is stabled in south-central Missouri near Waynesville. But, she says she gets to ride about every other week.

Of course, there can be some drawbacks to riding, like the time another horse threw her and she broke her arm.

That made it pretty hard to handle her part as a hula dancer in the school play. It's pretty hard to do intricate hand movements when one arm is in a sling.

But, that hasn't dampened her interest in horses. "I'm a great rider," she said. Brianna said her longest ride was six or seven hours.

She said she'd like to do some riding in horse shows. But, she said she draws the line at obstacle jumps. "I don't like jumping. There are too many risks," she said.

Last year, Brianna was able to be in both the school chorus and in band. "But, this year I had to chose one or the other. I chose band."

She said she was influenced in her choice of the trombone by an older brother, Neal. "I copied him. I thought the trombone was so cool," she said.

Brianna's Haitian friend

At first, she was so small she couldn't extend the trombone slide all the way to reach all the notes. But, she's got that mastered now.

Brianna writes to her Haitian friend, Laykensia Claude, every couple of months. In sponsoring the child, Brianna sends the cash support to World Vision. But, she said, "I can send her little gifts as long as they'll fit in a 5" by 7" envelope."

That means there's room for such things as crayons, candy and even some small books.

Brianna is looking ahead toward a career. She said, "I want to be a paleontologist." She said she has a friend who wants to do the same thing. Also, she says she's seen all three of the Jurassic Park movies.

She's already written to a college in California that offers courses in that subject.

But, she admits she's running into some opposition from her stepmother. Gayle said she's reluctant to have Brianna that far from home.

Both daughter and stepmother have time to negotiate. Right now, they're planning out Brianna's activity and service schedule for this school year.