Tuesday, March 28, 2006 10:52 PM CST
Dow is not content to just dream
By KRISTA LEWIN, Staff Writer
Chelsea Dow isn’t intimidated when it comes to making her ideas become reality.
When Dow was a senior at Mattoon High School in 2004, she decided her classmates needed a voice and needed a place to showcase their talents to the community.
Not content to just dream about the idea, she took action and contacted leaders at the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier, asking if they would be interested in publishing a school page for Mattoon High School students each month. The newspaper managers agreed.
So often, the community views teenagers in a negative light, and Dow wanted to show the public a different side. Wave Link, a page each month where students write about other students and school activities, was created.
Dow especially wanted to highlight student activities that don’t get a lot of attention.
“Sports are important, but they have the sports page,” said Dow.
Dow is the Outstanding Youth recipient of the 2006 Jefferson Awards which honors those who work to improve their communities.
Dow’s former teacher and Wave Link sponsor Mary Jo Eberspacher nominated Dow for the award.
“Over the course of the Wave Link project, Chelsea acted as manager, writer, photographer, editor-in-chief and mentor,” said Eberspacher. “These roles demanded a balance of delegation, organization and inspiration. In each position, this young woman set a standard that her peers respected and emulated. Moreover, the demands of meeting deadlines required infinite patience, a quality this young woman demonstrated consistently.”
Although Dow, 18, now attends the University of Illinois, her efforts with Wave Link have been carried on by MHS students.
“I am excited that it is still going,” said Dow. “It’s still a small group of kids doing a lot of hard work.”
Editing the articles, reporting and trying to encourage students to write was a labor of love for Dow, who juggled track, homework, National Honor Society and band.
“I really wanted to encourage younger kids to write for me because I wanted the paper to continue,” said Dow. “They were scared and they weren’t confident they could do it. But I told them, ‘If I could do this, anyone can.’”
Besides school activities, Dow also was a youth group leader at the Broadway Christian Church and she played in the youth praise band.
In an attempt to quell boredom, as she describes it, she decided to promote and organize local concerts. She has organized 12 concerts for teens including bringing in bands from different communities.
“I started promoting bands right before my senior year,” said Dow. “I had seen this band Midnight Fall perform in Springfield and they were amazing. I thought, ‘Maybe I can get them to do a concert in Mattoon.’”
She contacted the band and five other bands and then organized a concert at the Broadway Christian Church.
“A lot of these bands are struggling and really want a place to play,” said Dow. “Sometimes, all you have to do is offer them gas money to get here.”
Dow is pursuing a degree in business at U of I and has no firm plans about her future but is considering a career in the music promotion business. She works as an Illinois street promoter for Drive-Thru records.
“It’s all open for me,” said Dow of her future. “I am just 18.”
Contact Krista Lewin at klewin@jg-tc.com or 238-6858.
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