Rotarian Vincent Chiravalle presents a Distinguished Student of Service certificate May 21 to LAHS junior Sofia West, on behalf of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos as her mother Maria West shares the moment with LAHS teacher Aron Ayers at Cottonwood on the Greens. Photo by Linda Hull
BY VINCENT CHIRAVALLE
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
May 21 the Rotary Club of Los Alamos presented Sofia West, a Los Alamos High School junior with a Distinguished Student of Service award. Sofia is indeed one who has made service part of her life and she is a very well-rounded student.
Sofia is a member of the Interact Rotary club, the National Honor Society, and the NJROTC where she was the Female Color Guard Commander from November 2022 to February 2024. In this role she led teams that won awards in five drill competitions, including the NJROTC State Championship. As part of NJROTC Sofia is an active member of the Female Physical Fitness team and received two individual medals in 2022: 2nd Place Overall for Female Sit-Ups in 4A at the State Drill Meet and 1st Place Overall for Female Sit-Ups in 5A at the Area 9 Drill Meet. She served as the Adjutant for the NJROTC Unit, and in this capacity she was in charge of planning for the Navy annual inspection and the annual Navy ball. Currently, she serves as the Commanding Officer of the NJROTC Unit and is its highest ranking member.
In addition to these activities Sofia is an accomplished dancer, with Dance Arts Los Alamos, performing ballet and modern dance, and having participated in multiple dance performances including Sugarplum on the Hill (2022), Mixed Repertoire (2023), Nutcracker on the Hill (2023), Fright Night (2023), and Winter Mixed Repertoire (2023).
In her essay Sofia shared with the Club one of the challenges facing today’s youth; namely the issue of human and sex trafficking. Sofia described the sex trafficking industry as a $140 billion global Goliath. Through the Rotary Interact Club she and her committee have been organizing a fundraiser to benefit an anti-human trafficking organization, “Vos Tambien” in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sofia discussed the mission and impact of “Vos Tambien” as follows, “Vos Tambien which means “You Too” aims to rein in the destructive effects of human trafficking. While prevention is not always the most effective, rehabilitation is. Vos Tambien focuses on healing and helping the victims of human trafficking. Half of the battle is the stronghold that human trafficking holds on the victims. Breaking this is the first step towards ending the problem. Even in the face of Goliath, we have our weapons. We are David; our voices are our stones; our advocacy is our slings.”
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos feels that this is a very worthy effort and commends Sofia for her service to the youth in Los Alamos.
When receiving the award Sofia was joined by her mother Maria West and LAHS teacher Aron Ayers, who nominated her for the award.