By Alex Gura

Sadé Tavangarian ‘11 spoke at the Village School Leadership Summit on Sept. 27 and was honored for being their first senior keynote speaker.

Tavangarian, who attended the school through sixth grade, was approached by the head administrator of the school, Sue Slotnick to speak at the conference for parents association committee leaders.

“She approached me and told me they were doing a leadership summit,” Tavangarian said, “[She] told me there was ‘no one as perfect as you.’”

Tavangarian was asked to speak in front of a group of 60 mothers and a lone father to help them get their children involved in volunteering and community service. She spoke to them about the importance of helping their children to find something in volunteering that they love from an early age.

One of the main reasons that Tavangarian was chosen to speak was her past experience with volunteering while attending Village School. When she was 9 years old, Tavangarian raised over $1,000 for the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and impressed the head administrator of her school.

“She was amazed that a 9 year old could raise this much money,” Tavangarian said. “She asked me ‘how are you doing this?’”

It was her parents, Tavangarian said at the summit, who had given her the tools to volunteer and made her interested in community service.

“I watched my parents volunteer, and that influenced me to get involved,” Tavangarian said.

“When I saw that kids my age were dying, I wanted to help do something about it, so my parents helped give me a little push.”