Tribune/Debra Reid - Sparks High senior Savannah Meechan, 18, is laced into her prom dress by friend Alyssa Addington, 18, at Boulevard of Dreams on Saturday.
But Meechan doesn’t exactly think of herself as all that disciplined.
“I’m such a procrastinator,” she said. “I do homework really late at night when I’ve had it for a week.”
Never mind what Meechan thinks of herself, however, because the Soroptomist International of Washoe County thinks she is something special. On Tuesday, the teen received the volunteer organization’s Fiat Lux (“good light”) award, recognizing the Sparks High senior for her volunteer work at the SPCA.
Meechan, who just turned 18 this weekend, originally applied for a different award with Soroptomist International, hoping to receive a $1,000 scholarship and $250 to go to her volunteer organization of choice. She was informed she didn’t receive it, but was nominated for the Fiat Lux and won, which means the SPCA will benefit because she’s chosen to put it to good use to the place where she walks dogs as needed and has focused on creating a community outreach program.
Sonya Sistare, public relations director for Washoe County’s Soroptomist club, said the Fiat Lux award honors a late founding member who also loved animals.
“We’re always looking for an animal lover type of person,” Sistare said. “Last year, we gave the prize to the Sparks (Police Department) K-9 unit, which needed donations for dog food.”
Members of Soroptomist International were particularly impressed with Meechan’s initiative with SPCA.
“She has taken it upon herself to adopt a pet of the week to rehabilitate and become more pet-friendly and she spends an awful lot of time with the pet and teaches tricks and features it on her Web site,” Sistare said. “She’s found several homes for dogs that would have been left in the shelter because they weren’t particularly cute or appealing.”
Meechan said since she was 11, she had always wanted to help out at an animal shelter but she was too young.
“I was always brought up in a home that always cheered for animals,” she said, adding that between her mother’s and father’s homes, the family has five dogs and six cats.
Her mother, Shannon Comstock, said she was proud of her daughter.
“She’s very giving,” she said. “She pays for her own car insurance and her gas … and she gives up a lot to help the animals. … I can’t complain.”
Comstock said like many children, Meechan has gone through her phases of what she wanted to be when she grew up.
“First it was criminal law, then it was a veterinarian, then she wanted to do something with stocks,” she said. “She wanted to be a marine biologist at one time. She loves the animals, but the hard thing was she would get too attached, especially to the ones she would have to put down and she says she doesn’t think she could do that every day.”
But Meechan has a desire to be helpful, Comstock said.
“I know she wants to be in a place of power – she wants to be the boss,” Comstock said. “I don’t mean that in a bad way, just where she can make a difference. She helps her brother with her homework.
“She’s a pretty good kid; she’s a normal teen who doesn’t get into too much trouble but just enough,” Comstock said with a chuckle.
Meechan’s mother supports her efforts within and outside of school and said she hopes her daughter will be able to secure some scholarships to go to school.
The teen, working hard to go to college, said working at SPCA, where she’s spent time with two Australian shepherd mixes, Peanut and Koda, and found homes for them with one of her school guidance counselors and teachers, opened her eyes to at least one need in the community.
“I’ve always wanted to help animals but I didn’t realize how bad the need was,” she said.
Meechan works at the Gap Factory at the Legends and has participated in a program called Wall Street Wizards, which gives high school students an education in financial literacy and which Meechan hopes will put her on the right track to go to the University of California, Berkley. She has some of her future mapped out in investment banking, a future centered on helping others.
“I want to stay financially stable so I can focus on philanthropy and charities,” Meechan said. “I figure I could make a lot of money, retire early and invest in stocks so I could help out with the community.”
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