West Island girl leads the way to Washington

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

West Island youth Georgia Stavrakis, 12, is all set to represent her school, Dorset Elementary in Baie d'Urfé, at the prestigious People to People Leadership Forum in Washington D.C. in October. She was out walking her dog when first reached at her home last Wednesday by The Chronicle.

"Georgia's a lovely young girl, and has a lot of leadership potential," said her principal Judy Pyves, who collaborated with Stavrakis' teachers to nominate her.

Stavrakis, 12, seems to be involved in as many aspects of her school life as possible. "I do a lot of sports in school," Stavrakis told The Chronicle. She is also captain of the school's Peace Pals program. The program is run jointly by the school and volunteer students from Grades 5 and 6 who help teachers in keeping watch over their peers during recess time.

Stavrakis is also a reporter for the school's Door to Door newsletter, said her mother Maggie Stavrakis. In that regard, Georgia also participates in monthly meetings supervised by a teacher, writes articles about fellow student or teacher achievements at the school, and helps put the newsletter together.

"She's always been her own go-getter. She knows deep-down what she wants and then goes for it," Maggie said.

Georgia said she was looking forward to her trip to Washington D.C. This will be her first time going to the American capital, she explained.

According to her mother, she has always placed first among her peers in her studies, and has never had any problems putting her homework before anything else in life. That also has not stopped her from joining an equestrian program at school, and when she graduates and moves on to John Rennie High School, she will be continuing that there as well.

"She has a little brother who thinks the world of her," Maggie said. Like all siblings, they do occasionally fight sometimes, she said, but it is never serious or long-lasting.

Pyves recalled Georgia always standing out with her attention to her studies and devotion to various school activities, but one incident in particular really drove the point home about her leadership potential. On their drive back home from a leadership conference last year at the Lester B. Pearson School Board, Pyzes could not help but notice the excitement in Georgia's eyes on her way back from the trip.

As for what the future holds, Georgia hopes to make a career out of her obvious love of animals. "I'm hoping to be a veterinarian," she said.