Chesapeake, Virginia native, Andolyn Medina, will serve as Honorary Grand Marshal in the Lake City Parade in Lake City, South Carolina on Friday, 15 April 2011.  Immediately following the parade, she will speak to the community and perform a few song selections.

On the following Monday, 18 April 2011, Andolyn will visit several of the local primary and elementary schools.  She is scheduled to visit Lake City Head Start and two of the Elementary schools in Lake City, SC and one of the Elementary school in Scranton, SC.  Her visits will include first reading “Miss Spider’s Tea Party” to the pre-schoolers and having a tea party after crowning them all princesses; and then speaking with the elementary students on bullying, stereotyping and service after reading “How Full Is Your Bucket”,  encouraging them to be a bucket filler and not a dipper.

Each class was asked to select a VIP (Very Important Prince or Princess) in advance who exemplify Andolyn’s platform mission, PEACE ( Peer Empowerment And Community Engagement), displaying the following quality traits: positive attitude, academic excellence, service to mankind and teamwork (PAST).  Andolyn presented each VIP with one of her personalized platform token for making a difference in their community and being a leader in the classroom.  She then challenged each VIP to empower and encourage a friend to make a difference in the life of another and to pay it forward.

ABOUT WOYC: Week of The Young Child (WOYC).  WOYC is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  The purpose of the WOYC is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs at the local, state, and federal levels. The WOYC is a time to plan how we - as citizens of a community, state, and nation - will better meet the needs of all young children and their families.

ABOUT ANDOLYN MEDINA: Andolyn Medina, 10th grade honor student at Hickory High School in Chesapeake, VA and Governor's School for the Arts in Norfolk, VA; she is the reigning Miss Roanoke Valley’s Outstanding Teen 2011.