Rancho Penasquitos girls discover talent for producing

July 18, 2006
By: JEFF FRANK - North County Times

A pair of Rancho Penasquitos teenagers can already claim a successful show producing credit.

Arianna Afsar and Shireen Ashtari, both entering 10th grade at Westview High School, produced a May talent show, "Stars of the Future" that featured 20 entries. The two girls, along with Arianna's mother Karin Schumacher, found the contestants, recruited sponsors and advertised the show at the Poway Community Center.

When the singing and dancing was over, Kristin Paruginog, Harriet Berholtz and Raelyn Mason had each won $100 first prizes, while Arianna and Shireen discovered they had raised nearly $1,200.

Since the show was in Poway, they decided to donate the money to an organization in that city. They presented the funds at Monday night's Palomar Pomerado Health board meeting, for use in the birthing center at Pomerado Hospital.

"We've been doing a lot of community service, for a long time. This is the biggest thing we've done," said Shireen. "We were surprised we accomplished that much."

The two 14-year-olds plan to do another show sometime next year.

Not a retiring guy: The Senior Service Council at the Joslyn Center in Escondido has bid a fond farewell to longtime board member Don Anderson upon his recent retirement after 16 years as a board member. Anderson, not to be confused with the city's community services director of the same name, was a "Jack of all trades," for the senior council, said Amy Shipley, executive director of the Joslyn Center. His retirement isn't yet complete. He has already been called back to help at the center several times. "He has so much knowledge. He thought he had passed it all on when he left, but he's realizing as he's getting those calls that he hasn't," said Shipley. "He's a great guy."

Around town: Hidden Meadows resident Mike Richman forwards a report that Scott LoBaido has now painted the Stars and Stripes on the roofs of buildings in 21 states. He's currently in Rapid City, S.D., working on flag No. 22 in his quest to paint rooftop flags on buildings in all 50 states. LoBaido painted a flag in April atop Ellen's Enchanted Gardens in Escondido. ... Escondido History Center Executive Director Wendy Barker will present a free lecture on the importance of the railroad on the growth of Escondido. The talk, part of the center's monthly lecture series, is at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the center in Grape Day Park. ... Totals are in from last month's "An Evening with Snow Leopards" fundraiser at the Del Dios Country Store. The inaugural event brought in $35,000 for the Snow Leopard Conservancy.

-- Contact staff columnist Jeff Frank at (760) 740-5419 or jfrank@nctimes.com.