By Nina Raemont
While many recreational activities are closed for the summer, Shira Aronow, a rising senior at Blake High School, saw within her Maple Grove community the necessity to keep children busy and productive during a summer of uncertainty.
Aronow created a short magazine that acts as a guide parents and babysitters can utilize during the summer months while their children are home. Entitled Planet Empower, Aronow aims to provide caretakers with community service-oriented activities and learning opportunities for children. Each passage, says Aronow, includes ways that children can make a difference in their own community.
As a service-oriented individual herself, Aronow is on the community service board at Blake High School and also pioneered the community advisory board for Crisis Nursery, a local nonprofit.
“These experiences have led me to meet a lot of fascinating people, hear their stories and how they’ve persevered. All of these aspects combined helped me to be passionate about how I can help,” says Aronow.
The magazine features three different types of activities: learning experiences, small activities that don’t take too much time and longer, more extensive activities. Passages include resources for learning how children can get involved in their own communities and places for kids to connect with each other.
This fall, Aronow intends to apply to college as a social entrepreneurship major, and “use business as a method to make a difference and help others.” The magazine serves as a fun and productive summer project for Aronow, but her passion for providing for her communities will last a lifetime.
