Bat mitzvah pledge just keeps on going for Berkeley girl

Cynics who doubt that one person can make a difference haven quote t met Samantha Lomeli.par

The 14-year-old Berkeley girl pledged at her bat mitzvah last year to help others and she clearly hasn quote t forgotten her word.par

Since last summer, Samantha has tutored public school students, spearheaded a drive that collected more than 1,400 books for an East Oakland school and produced a video yearbook for a group of kindergartners.par

ldblquote My parents always taught me it was important to be involved in other people quote s lives and not just my own, dblquote said Samantha.par

Though modest about her contributions, Samantha quote s efforts haven quote t gone unnoticed.par

In May, the 8th grader at Oakland quote s Bentley School was

given the Kids Make a Difference Award for distinguished service by the Bay Area Discovery Museum. The award, handed out to one youngster from each of five Bay Area counties, included $250 for the re

cipient and $100 for the charity of their choice. Samantha donated hers to a literacy program at Children quote s Hospital in Oakland.par

Irving Lubliner, the dean of students at Bentley quote s middle school and Samantha quote s teacher in an honors algebra class, nominated Samantha for the award. He said the choice was easy.par

ldblquote She quote s an outstanding student and yet she finds the time to extend herself to help other people and she does this consistently and in a way that I felt truly deserved recognition, dblquote said Lubliner.par

A passionate reader, Samantha dedicated her April 1999 bat mitzvah at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley to improving literacy among Hispanic children.par

ldblquote I realized that I quote m incredibly privileged, dblquote she said. ldblquote Some people aren quote t as privileged as I am. dblquote par

Beth El Rabbi Ferenc Raj said Samantha has shown herself to be a natural leader. ldblquote She is someone who is not very loud, but at the same time, a leader who inspires others to emulate her, dblquote he said.par

Samantha said she was overwhelmed by the support of friends and relatives who attended her bat mitzvah and decided that ldblquote I should in turn do something for other people. dblquote par

The daughter of Marilynn Aiches and Leo Lomeli, Samantha quote s interest in promoting literacy for Spanish-speaking youngsters stems in part from the fact that her father is Mexican American. Last August, she tutored first

graders at Horace Mann Elementary School in Oakland for whom English was a second language.par

ldblquote It was a fantastic experience, very rewarding, dblquote she said. ldblquote I really felt like I was making a difference. It really inspired me to keep going. dblquote par

And keep going she did. While cleaning out her old books at home last fall, Samantha came up with the idea of donating them to Horace Mann students. Few of the children could afford books of their own and she quote

d noticed that the school itself needed texts.par

ldblquote I had this huge pile of all these books I loved to read, dblquote she said. ldblquote I thought my friends probably had them, too. If we could be able to give them books, they could have their own personal library. dblquote par

She pitched the idea to school administrators at her private school. When she got a green light, Samantha went to work.par

Lubliner recalls how almost overnight Samantha had put up posters and set out collection bins around the Bentley campus. ldblquote It was really a one-person effort, dblquote he recalled. ldblquote She did this all by herself. dblquote par

The effort paid off. Within five days, Samantha had collected 1,429 books for Horace Mann students. ldblquote They were very, very, very appreciative, dblquote said Samantha. ldblquote That was a really fantastic feeling. dblquote par

This year, Samantha and two classmates have been tutoring third graders at Jefferson Elementary School in Berkeley.par

A straight-A student, Samantha also decided to do something special for the kindergarten class at Bentley. She and some classmates videotaped each youngster through the year and have now edited their efforts into a video yearbook for that class.par

The idea came to Samantha one day when she was thumbing through her own yearbook and decided how much more interesting a video would be than simply photos.par

After filming, editing and production, Samantha now is selling copies of the video. She generated a small profit, which she plans to donate to Bentley quote s video class.par

Samantha admits that her volunteer projects have cut into studying time, but says, ldblquote I just worked harder on homework on the weekends. dblquote par

As for her plans, Samantha will go to Camp Tawonga this summer and will attend College Preparatory School in Oakland in the fall. She wants to do more tutoring at Horace Mann. And, she adds, ldblquote I quote m sure there quote

s something in the future, but I haven quote t really thought of it yet. dblquote }{f522fs20 par

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