GRACIE KAZER -- For a good cause

Young Chang

Gracie Kazer, 16, isn’t just out to fill her transcript with

impressive credentials.

The Corona del Mar High School junior initially joined a volunteering

club on campus this fall to rack up the 40 community service hours

required to graduate. She has already completed more than 40 hours now at

Child’s Pace, a Costa Mesa organization that provides social activities

and interaction for children, but she has no plans to leave.

“Once you start going, you start recognizing the kids and you kind of

bond with them,” Gracie said. “You look forward to going, and once you

go, they really want you to come back. You really appreciate that, and

they really appreciate it too.”

Gracie helps the 4- to 13-year-olds there with their homework. Lately,

it’s been multiplication and division for the fifth-graders. Some need

help with English and grammar, and some just need an older mentor to

answer random questions that may or may not relate to school.

She works on arts and crafts activities with the kids and recently

helped organize the Christmas play, “Charlie Brown’s Christmas.”

“You learn to be patient,” said Gracie, who volunteers about two hours

a week with her friends at Child’s Pace. “You don’t want to be mean, and

you teach yourself.”

Gracie says she is fortunate for having met the children there.

They’re people she would not have met if she had not volunteered, and

they are all “good kids,” she said. Some live in areas she is unfamiliar

with; some have less opportunities than she does.

A few are not very motivated, but the teen tutor has no difficulty

remembering that once she was less ambitious than she is now.

Gracie, who is considering colleges on both coasts, wants to pursue a

career in journalism or other liberal arts studies.

For now, she is content with school, friends and her weekly

volunteering.

“I think a lot of people [at Child’s Pace]. They’re not just there to

get their hours,” she said. “I want to go back, and it’s part of my

routine now.