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By Josh Perry
Hometown Weekly Staff
In a recent notice to parents, Blake Middle School principal Nat Vaughn announced that eighth grader Sophia Gustafson was selected as the school’s Project 351 ambassador for 2016.
Gustafson has a long history of community service throughout Medfield. She has assisted local organizations such as Medfield Youth Outreach, the Medfield Food Cupboard, the Thomas Upham House, and participated in community service groups through the school.
“Sophia is just a perfect match for what it’s all about,” said Vaughn about Gustafson’s selection as ambassador. “She’s wise beyond her years and genuinely interested in the idea of community service.”
The staff at Blake comes up with the name that the school will put forward as ambassador and Vaughn noted that it was pretty much unanimous who should be selected this year.
“It was one of the easier decisions as a staff,” he said. “It was immediate responses…and even thinking back to last year, before it was even on the radar, people were saying, well Sophia’s going to be our 351 rep, right?”
That does not mean that Gustafson knew what she was being called into the office for on the day that the announcement was going to be made.
She explained, “The day that I got called down, I was actually confused about what it would be about, but I was so excited. It’s such a cool experience and such a cool idea.”
Gustafson added that she had heard about Project 351 in sixth grade and was “secretly” hoping that her name would be called when she was in eighth grade.
“I thought it was a really good opportunity to find other people who are on the same page about helping others and the community,” she said.
“It creates a really good network of people to collaborate with and learn new things about helping the community and the leader of it, Mrs. Casey, is really inspiring.”
Project 351 brings eighth graders together from each community in the state to work on a service project on the same day.
The students are selected by middle school staffs and meet with Governor Charlie Baker and other state officials before working in teams to complete projects.
Gustafson has a long history of giving back in Medfield. She was only 7 years old when she created Hope for All, a service project that benefits children’s charities across the globe (including the Congo, Uganda, and Jordan) through the sale of handmade bows and other items.
“I think as time has gone on I’ve kind of come up with, our life is too short, so why wait until you’re older to do things that better the community when it’s your responsibility right now,” she reflected.
“It’s just your responsibility as a human to use your time and your energy to make the world a better place.”
That attitude is shared by a number of students at Blake and throughout Medfield schools, which Vaughn believes is a testament to the culture that families and students have built in the community.
He said, “We have a really good problem here of a lot of kids want to do a lot of community service drives.”
Blake has always taken part in Project 351 and Vaughn considers it an important piece of what the school offers to students who are willing to give back and who deserve to be recognized for their efforts.
About the honor of being named ambassador, Gustafson smiled and said, “I was so happy and proud that people thought of me in that way; that I’d be qualified to be part of something that’s so based around all the things I strive to be. It’s an honor.”
For more information about Project 351, visit www.project351.com.
Josh Perry is an Editor at Hometown Weekly. He can be reached at news@hometownweekly.net and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.
