Girl Scouts send packages to Kuwait Hundreds...

Girl Scouts send packages to Kuwait

Hundreds of care packages are on their way from Huntington Beach

headed for Kuwait, sent with love from local Girl Scouts.

The 366 parcels contain cookies, candy, Kool Aid, razors,

crackers, baby wipes, ChapStick, writing paper, letters, poems and

pictures -- all the things a Marine might wish for, said Sylvia

Ellis-Anwyl, a service unit manager for the Girl Scouts.

Ellis-Anwyl, her husband Brian Tremp and their daughter Asea,

proposed the idea to the Girl Scouts. Tremp, a Marine, is not

currently stationed overseas. But many of his friends are.

“The kids were really overjoyed,” Ellis-Anwyl said. “They just

wanted to help, to do something.”

The packages are being sent to a Marine in Kuwait.

“You can’t send [mail] to just anyone because of the way the world

is today,” Ellis-Anwyl said.

The project received an overwhelming response from 26 different

troops. Of 444 girls in the service unit, 366 volunteered to

participate, she said. Many parents were actively involved in the

project as well.

The girls had photographs taken and wrote letters and poems to the

Marines.

“To a very special soldier who fought in a war. He is still

living, though his legs may be sore,” wrote 15-year-old Jessica

Morrison.

“Even though I do not support the war, I do support your bravery

and courage,” Morrison continued.

Lisa Herman, a troop leader, said many of the girls wished the

Marines a safe and quick return.

“There was a difference of opinion on whether we should be in the

war,” she said. “But there was no division on whether we should be

supporting our troops.”

Mural lands student an A and a job

While most art students at Cal. State Long Beach hope to be part

of a student exhibit at the school, Shannon Trantow of Huntington

Beach decided to do something different. She completed a mural for

the Liberty Performing Arts Center in Los Alamitos, which will remain

a permanent fixture.

The mural covers two 30- by 50-foot walls on each side of the

theater stage. It is titled, “Romantic Moods.”

The theme for the opposing walls is tragedy versus comedy, done in

an art deco-era style.

“She was very enthusiastic,” said Rick Gloady, public relations

officer for Cal. State Long Beach. “She worked hard at it, nine to 10

hours a day over a three-week period.”

Art professor Jennifer Grey inspired Trantow to work with murals

back during her freshman year. Grey’s mural class usually reserved

for upper-division students. But Trantow’s excitement convinced Grey

to make an exception, Gloady said. Grey served a mentor for Trantow’s

senior project.

Trantow got an A in the class and a job with the theater.

She will graduate in May with a bachelor of fine arts degree in

drawing and painting.

ACT test registration

The national college admissions and placement exam, ACT, will be

administered on June 14. The registration postmark deadline for

college-bound high school students is May 9. For an additional fee,

students may register late by the May 23 deadline. The test fee in

California is $25.

Test scores are used for admission and placement decisions in most

American colleges and universities. Students may request an ACT

packet through their college counselors or by registering online at

www.act.org. The Web site provides sample tests and additional

information.

The exam is curriculum-based, consisting of tests in English,

math, reading and science reasoning. Students may repeat the test and

report only their highest score.