Scarlett Larson
2023 Amazing Kids - Scappoose
Age: 13
School: Columbia County Christian School
Hometown: Warren
WHY SHE IS AMAZING: Scarlett Larson leads with a smile and makes sure everyone around her feels included and appreciated.
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LEADING WITH A SMILE
Genuinely kind people can be rare gems, but Scarlett Larson’s family and teachers say she’s the real deal. Always leading with a smile, Larson, a seventh-grader at Columbia County Christian School in Warren, helps out wherever she can in her school community.
Her principal, Shari Dummer, said that Larson is on her school’s student government and leadership team, which can be a big commitment.
“She uses extra time on her own to learn about being a leader,” Dummer said. As a student leader and member of the student government, Larson often helps with events, guiding younger students, and leading prayer.
“When I need a certain student to be in charge of something or to be by my side, Scarlett is always there,” Larson’s music teacher Carla Warnock said. Dummer said Larson encompasses the word “helpful.”
“She steps up whenever anything is needed,” she said. Through her leadership role, Dummer and Warnock agree that Larson goes beyond to make everyone around her feel included and appreciated.
“We can both agree that she puts her heart into everything she does,” Warnock, also the director of students, said. “Scarlett continuously nonstop has a smile on her face.” One way Larson makes others feel appreciated is through hand-made cards. “I love making cards,” she said.
“(When) trying to encourage people, maybe if I don’t have time to sit down and chat with them, I can just write them a card.”
Dummer and Warnock said Larson wrote thoughtful cards to cheer them up and encourage them as educators.
But Larson goes beyond making individual cards here and there for her teachers; she makes them for everyone. “She makes time to make cards for everybody,” Warnock said. In particular, Warnock said students and staff could expect personalized cards from Larson at any event.
“One of the things that I love about her is that if we have an event the next day, I know Scarlett will always have something on my desk waiting for me,” Warnock said.
On top of her student leader responsibilities, Warnock said Larson is also a straight-A student.
“I just make sure I get my schoolwork done, and then if I don’t get my schoolwork done, then I come home and try to get it done but still not take up the entire afternoon with schoolwork and kind of have a balance between that,” Larson said. Larson’s family and teachers agree that she positively impacts everyone.
“I feel like she’s someone who everyone knows that they can come to and talk to her,” Larson’s mother, Gina Larson, said. “She’s got even little kids that will see her in the school and want to give her a big hug.”
Dummer said Larson is the friend you want. “She’s gonna lift you up,” she said. “She’s going to encourage you. She’s that type that does that to all of her classmates.”
In addition to school leadership, Larson is also active in the 4-H program. Larson is in her fourth year of showing for 4-H and has shown pigs, cows and horses.
“I think it’s really fun to speak with kids or people who haven’t seen farm animals, and their reaction just seeing them is so cool,” Larson said. “I think it’s also pretty cool to see where our meat comes from, like the pigs or animals, just to see, like, ‘Oh, it doesn’t just come to the stores’ … it’s a whole process, and also the hard work that goes with it.”
Keeping in theme with her desire to make people smile, Larson said she hopes to work in the dental field after high school and college.
“My mom actually is an orthodontist assistant, and so we kind of get to see the back end of everything,” she said. “I just love to smile, and so I’d love to make other people want to smile.”