Whiz Kid: Kudos to Cabin Leaders

Every Wednesday, Novato Patch will honor a Whiz Kid in our community. Submit your own nominations for outstanding kids who showed kindness, became an Eagle Scout, aced a hard test or led their team to victory. 

For this first Whiz Kid feature, we're recognizing a group of students involved in an unusual situation: The evacuation of the Walker Creek Ranch science camp last week when a novovirus caused an outbreak of diarrhea and vomiting. The high school students were serving as cabin leaders at the time, and nearly 60 fifth graders from were there.

As fifth-grade San Ramon teacher Juliette Jones tells me, the cabin leaders —  all public high school students from Novato — did a great job under extreme circumstances.

"They were moved to new cabins when other cabin leaders fell ill. They dealt with crying, scared kids, as well as sick children. The week did not turn out to be what they signed up for, yet they stayed calm and helpful throughout the ordeal."  San Ramon 5th grade teacher Lisa Raymond agreed and added, "the cabin leaders also remained positive and kept smiles on their faces."

Here are the heroes ...

From : Alex Mendieta; Marcus Anderson; Brian Herrera.

From : Lauren Sutton Beattie.

From : Kelsey Diederich; Dan Cheetham; Sean Hickey; Morgan McEachern; Hanna Gibeson; Stephanie Falzon; Shannon "Shay" Scott; Lindsey Bearsley; Charlotte Nuyens; Kevin Kilgariff; Dylan Moyer; Luc Denis; Brian Phan

Great Deed: This group of high school students stayed calm and cooperative during a long night of sick and scared younger children.

Key to Awesomeness: Dealing with the unexpected and the unpleasant with a calm, clear, uncomplaining manner.