Tehama County Youth — Getting Things Done

As a continuing, occasional feature, North State Parent is happy to spotlight exceptional local students. This month, we are introducing you to five from Tehama County.

Kaiya Chamblin is a high school junior at Evergreen Institute of Excellence and has been dually enrolled at Shasta College for six semesters.

While on a tour of Zelma’s Awards in Red Bluff, Kaiya asked Zelma’s owner, Michelle Hickok, if she could work there as an intern. She began interning in May, 2022, often putting in 15-20 hours a week, and has recently been hired as an employee.

At Zelma’s, Kaiya says, “I get to do almost everything from greeting customers, to using our big equipment such as the laser engraving machines and heat press, as well as perform small tasks around the shop such as organizing and inventory tasks. One of the best parts about my time at Zelma’s is the fact that we are a team of hardworking women—I feel so empowered to be working alongside those women who have such a strong passion for creativity. My internship has helped me gain a priceless amount of knowledge regarding creativity, graphic design and so much more.”

Kaiya’s other interests include karate. “I have been doing Kenpo Karate for over five years and am a third class brown belt. At my karate dojo, I love helping out in the little kid’s classes.”

Marquel Campbell lives in Red Bluff and is a high school senior at Pivot Charter School North Valley in Chico.

Marquel’s family has been actively involved with Red Bluff’s homeless population for a year, and a significant part of this is preparing and feeding dinner to homeless individuals every Sunday night at Dog Island Park. Marquel is in charge of handing out essential supplies like gloves, tents, sleeping bags and more, and also celebrating each person’s birthday.

For Mags, who was one of the homeless “regulars” at the park before passing away, Marquel says, “We surprised her for her 50th birthday because we didn’t want her to celebrate alone. We bought a cake, a card and a gift bag. Some friends joined us and Mags was so happy because it had been a long time since she celebrated her birthday.”

Marquel says, “Before we go down to the park we pray that God will work through us. While we are at the park we pray that God will give us the right words to say to the people there. Everyone in my family has unique gifts and we can each reach out to the homeless in our different ways—whether that’s playing catch or baking goodies for them.”

In addition to missionary outreach with Calvary Chapel Red Bluff, Marquel enjoys “construction and building things.”

Katey Kohler graduated Evergreen Institute of Excellence in the fall of 2021 at age 16 and has just graduated Shasta College. Active in the Lassen Colony 4-H club for nine years, Katey says her latest project was sewing an Edwardian era style dress, which she entered in the  Tehama County 4-H Fashion Revue. She says, “I won the historical challenge category where one creates an outfit that is inspired by or looks like an old design using new fabric and notions, and went on to compete in California’s State Fashion Revue at UC Davis last spring. I ended up winning the historical challenge category at the state level as well.” She was then invited to be California’s delegate in the Fashion Revue at Western Nationals Roundup in Denver, Colorado this month. “I am one of four members from California who have been selected to have the option to participate and I cannot express how excited I am to be a part of this once in a lifetime opportunity,” she says.

Katey plans to start attending Grand Canyon University in the spring and will major in psychology with plans to become a marriage and family therapist.

Keira Brownfield is in seventh grade at Lincoln Street School in Red Bluff and she is deeply interested in nature, specifically several “milkweed for monarchs” project. “I applied for and received a Roots and Shoots mini grant of $200 for planting milkweed,” she says. “A family member also donated $200. With these grants my mom and I planted 82 milkweed plants at 20 sites in four different counties. I also got milkweed seeds for free at a wildlife refuge. I put some of the seeds in 50 packets for my school to hand out to students to plant.” This past summer, she sold cookies and bottled water at a yard sale and earned about $200 for planting milkweed and other native plants on an empty lot in Gerber. “I hope that the projects will increase the declining monarch butterfly population,” Keira says.

Keira also loves riding horses and recently won third place in the Tehama County’s Red Ribbon Week Essay Contest. The theme was “Celebrate Life, Live Drug Free” and Keira wrote that for her, “One of the best ways to celebrate life is to live it drug free, with horses!”

Theodore Phanixay is in seventh grade at Los Molinos Elementary School and has taken advantage on an opportunity to become a Peer Mediator at the school.

Theo says, “What a Peer Mediator does is go to the TK-fifth side and solve problems if there are any. To become a Peer Mediator you have to write a letter why you should be a Peer Mediator, give them two letters of recommendation, have an interview with the people who train the Peer Mediators, and then go to Peer Mediator training, and then boom, you’re good to go.”

Theo has many interests, including woodworking, writing, drawing and reading and gardening with his family.