Rose in Bloom

Most 12-year-old girls would rather hang out with their friends, go shopping for new clothes or talk about boys.

Don’t let the shy smile with braces and her love of instant messaging fool you: Rose Weston is not like most 12-year-old girls.

She enjoys golfing with her family, volunteering with the Public Works Department and keeping her Adopt-A-Spot clean.

She has a tendency to collect awards like some girls collect dolls.

Her latest was awarded before the Missouri-Colorado game Saturday, when she received the Sportsmanship Award in honor of her excellent sportsmanship in the Show Me State Games in the 12-and-under Mother/Daughter Golf event.

Rose, a seventh-grader at Gentry Middle School, has competed in the event for four years. Her father, Steve Weston, has played in the Show Me State Games for 14 years, often in the mother/son golf event with his mother.

Steve got his daughter interested in golf. The family goes golfing a few times a year.

“She has really only played a few times a year since she was probably seven,” Steve Weston said. “Probably two or three times a year, she’d just go out, get tired before nine holes were over and enjoy watching and sitting in the cart. I don’t think her mom’s much different.”

Steve Weston says that since Rose’s category is limited to nine holes, it is perfect for Rose and her mom. Rose’s mother, Dovie, agrees that she and Rose are not serious golfers but still enjoy the game.

“We aren’t real hard-core players,” Dovie Weston said. “We just play a few times a year. We started playing because Steve played for 14 years, and since there’s a category for mother/daughter, we thought it would be fun.”

Rose said she likes competing in the games and golfing with her mother. She started golfing because everyone in her family did it and is quick to admit she is not the best golfer at the Weston house.

“I don’t know who is exactly,” Rose said. “But I’m sure it’s not me.”

Although Rose may not be the best golfer in the family, the judges at the Show Me State Games were still impressed by Rose and her positive attitude on the course. Rose said she is not sure exactly why the judges picked her, but she has her own ideas of what makes a good sport.

“Not to be mad when I don’t win,” Rose said. “It’s just kind of being fair and not yelling at anybody.”

Rose’s courtesy and care for other people translates to her life off the course as well, especially in the other Weston family passion — volunteering in Columbia. Rose has been volunteering for the Public Works Department since she was a toddler.

“I’ve known Skippy (Rose) since she was being carried around by her parents,” said Christine Gardener, a volunteer coordinator for the Public Works Department. “She actually came as a baby to the first meeting we ever had for the public works volunteer program and started volunteering, cleaning up litter with her parents as soon as she could walk.”

Steve Weston said he took his daughter to the first Adopt-A-Spot meeting when she was 2 years old and she’s been involved in recycling and cleaning up Columbia ever since.

“My family’s been involved with it all of my life, so I’ve been involved in it all of my life,” Rose said.

When she was 9, Rose obtained her own Adopt-A-Spot, which she tends to, as well as the family “Spot.” Hers is located by the recycling drop-off at the end of Buttonwood Drive. Rose was named March 2002 Volunteer of the Month by the city in honor of her work with Adopt-A-Spot and other programs.

“It seems to me, that Rose has just kind of grown up with it,” Steve Weston said. “If you do it long enough, it becomes an integral part of your life.”

Rose recently spent the summer as part of Youth in Action, a volunteer program organized by the city for volunteers between the ages of 12 and 15.

Although Rose was not yet 12 when she started the program, Anne Meysenburg, the program coordinator and Public Works intern, said there was never any concern about her age. In fact, program organizers worried that Rose would be too experienced to benefit from the program.

“You can tell that she’s one of those people in the world that is intrinsically motivated,” Meysenburg said. “She sees the benefit of being a volunteer at a very early age. That’s not normal.”

Rose enjoys crocheting and playing her two instruments, the piano and the French horn. She also said that after reading the book “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes,” she and her friends have begun an attempt to fold 1,000 paper cranes. They have 200 so far.

Last year, as a sixth-grader, she placed fourth in the statewide geography bee. Rose was the only girl and the only student from Columbia to reach the final round.

While Rose boasts an impressive list of accomplishments for a 12-year-old, those who know her say that they expect even bigger things in the future.

“She’s a very determined person when she makes her mind up to do something and is very committed,” Gardener said. “She also always has very good ideas and is a good problem solver.”