Jefferson County 10-year-old Paulina Pullen recently won a big award for her various community service projects.
Paulina, a fourth grader at the Fox C-6 School District’s Lone Dell Elementary School, began her volunteer work during the COVID-19 pandemic when she turned to the kitchen to stave off boredom.
Her time baking and cooking led her to participate in the Ronald McDonald House Charities baking challenge to raise money for the organization that provides housing for families with seriously ill children undergoing treatment in the St. Louis area.
That charitable act sparked her desire to do more.
Paulina also spends some time most weeks visiting residents at the Pony Bird facility in Arnold, which houses people with disabilities. Paulina’s mother, Megan Schott, works at the facility.
The Arnold youngster also lays wreaths on veterans graves in the National Cemetery at Jefferson Barracks during the Christmas season and places flags at graves in the cemetery around Memorial Day.
In addition, she also recently put together “Blessing Bags” filled with hygiene products, powder drink flavoring and snacks that she donated to Rock Community Fire Protection District firefighters.
“I just like doing stuff for other people,” Paulina said. “It just makes me feel really great. It is a way for me to stay active.”
Paulina’s various acts of kindness recently earned her one of the Fox School District’s 2024 Masterpiece Awards. The awards honor students, staff members, parents and other district stakeholders who demonstrate a commitment to the district’s values of achievement, character, and excellence.
Superintendent Paul Fregeau said Paulina is the youngest Masterpiece winner since the district started giving out the award in 2017.
Paulina Pullen - 4th Grade Student, Lone Dell Elementary (Pictured are: Judy Smith, Amy Vandevender, Paul Fregeau, April Moeckel, Kelly Bracht, Travis Lintner, Randy Gilman, Paul Tramel, Paulina Pullen, Todd Scott, Curtiss Frazier is hidden by the balloons, Tammy Cardona, JP Prezzavento, Tracy Haggerty)
Lisa Busch, a parent educator with the Fox district’s Parents as Teachers program, nominated Paulina for the award after learning about her community services through Schott’s Facebook posts.
The Parents as Teachers program supports parents with young children by offering them the chance to have parent educators visit them in their homes and teach them strategies to help their children develop skills.
“I enjoy following kids and families on Facebook after having that relationship with them at the beginning of their school careers,” Busch said. “I saw what she has been up to, and I thought a fourth grader that involved in the community deserves to be recognized. She is doing great things. She is definitely a prime example of a Masterpiece. She is definitely inspiring others, and she deserves to be in the spotlight.”
Starting out
Paulina’s mother said she encouraged her daughter to take part in the Ronald McDonald House Charities’ baking challenge after learning about it through Facebook.
“I was like this will be perfect. Paulina is always in the kitchen baking or cooking, and I could snap a picture of her while she was preparing something,” Schott, 32, said. “Then we could help remind others there were ways to donate to charities during COVID.”
Schott said she posted the photos of Paulina baking, along with the recipe her daughter used for the two challenges Paulina entered. Then, people donated money through a link included with those posts.
Paulina raised about $500 for Ronald McDonald House Charities, Schott said.
“I have a friend who stayed at Ronald McDonald House with her son,” Schott added. “Knowing you are helping Ronald McDonald House serve other families, that is always amazing.”
Schott, a member of the overnight direct support staff at the Pony Bird facility in Arnold, said she sometimes took her daughter to work with her, which contributed to her daughter’s community service with that agency. In addition, Schott’s husband, Jacob Pullen, 38, sometimes takes Paulina to the Pony Bird location on Pomme Road to visit her mother and some of the residents.
“I do it (visit with Pony Bird residents) every week, one to two times a week,” Paulina said. “I feel happy when I see them. They are some neat people.”
Paulina said she draws pictures for the residents and talks with them.
Schott said her daughter is popular with the Pony Bird residents.
“My residents absolutely love her,” Schott said. “They are so great with her, and she is so great with them.”
Doing more
Paulina said her family often visits the National Cemetery at Jefferson Barracks because they have family members buried there, and she started putting wreaths and flags on veterans’ graves about three years ago.
During one of the family’s visits, they saw Cub Scouts putting flags on grave sites, which inspired Paulina to do the same, Schott said.
Since then, Paulina has participated with her Girl Scout Troop in Wreaths Across America and the Memorial Day Good Turn, when flags are placed on grave sites.
“It is fun,” said Paulina, a member of Troop 104 of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri. “I hang out with my cousin (Ava Williams) when I do it.”
Schott said making “Blessing Bags” for Rock firefighters was the latest project her daughter decided to take on, adding that she helped her daughter decide what to put in the bags and figure out how much the project would cost.
The “Blessing Bags” were delivered March 26 to firefighters at House 5 on Telegraph Road in Arnold.
“It is pretty special when someone that young thinks of us and brings things for the crews,” said Alyson Rotter, Rock Fire public education coordinator and public information officer. “It is a good moral boost for the crews. It is pretty darn sweet when kiddos think of us.”
Masterpiece
Schott said she and her husband knew that their daughter had been selected as a Masterpiece winner about a month before she received the award.
“It was a really hard secret to keep from her,” she said.
Fregeau surprised Paulina with the award at Lone Dell Elementary on spring picture day.
“I was all eyes on the superintendent,” she said. “When he said my name, I was full of a lot of emotions. I was really happy and grateful for it.”
Paulina’s parents were at the school for the award announcement, and that’s when they realized Busch had nominated their daughter for the award, Schott said.
“When (Fregeau) went over the nomination, the first line said Parents as Teacher,” Schott said. “That is when we knew.”
Busch said she couldn’t be at Lone Dell when Paulina received the award, but she is proud that one of the families she met through Parents as Teachers was celebrated.
“It is exciting for the whole family,” said Busch, who has worked in the Parents as Teachers program for seven years. “Her mom and dad should be celebrated as well. We all know kids like that don’t just happen; they are definitely grown and encouraged. They have to have that inspiration come from somewhere.
“She is a great kid. I am lucky to meet a lot of them every day. It is neat to get to see some of what is possible with these kids.”
Other winners
Randy Gilman, Fox’s assistant superintendent of elementary education, was this year’s recipient of the Superintendent’s Choice Masterpiece Award.
Other Masterpiece Award winners included Antonia Elementary School Principal Mark Rudanovich, Seckman Elementary School Building Blocks preschool teacher Kim Prezzavento, Don Earl Early Childhood behavior specialist Dawn Amsden, Fox Middle School resource officer Mike Prusinowski and Seckman Elementary community members John and Stacy Grindell of the Arnold Athletic Association.