JULIA SPENCER

Modesto High School senior

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Don’t mess with Julia.

As the team leader for shooting sports in the Wood Colony 4-H, Julia is an experienced markswoman. She has placed second in intermediate BB gun and fourth place in senior air rifle on the county level and has also won several medals, including a gold, shooting the BB gun, air rifle and .22-caliber rifle during the 4-H State Shooting Match, an annual statewide competition for 4-H members.

Julia has other responsibilities in 4-H as well. She is the president of Wood Colony 4-H and the secretary of Stanislaus County High 4-H. As the team leader for shooting sports, “I have the opportunity to teach the younger members, which is something I really enjoy. They are all very good kids and very nice.”

Julia Spencer, 16, Modesto High School, Teen Hall of Fame. August 21, 2009. (BRIAN RAMSAY/bramsay@modbee.com)

She has participated in floral design and hopes to get into a goat group so that she can show in the Stanislaus County Fair. “I got into 4-H and shooting because it was something I had never done and I think that you should be exposed to as many things as possible,” she said. “I am really glad I did.”

In addition to 4-H, Julia has played the flute for eight years and “cannot imagine playing anything else. I started because I wanted to be like my sister, who played in junior high, but now, through marching band, I have made so many friends. We are really like our own family and it is so nice to know that there is a group of people who will help you no matter what.”

Band has given Julia travel experience, too. Last summer, she went to China with the Modesto High marching band to play in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Orchestra.

“There were about 2,000 people there and it was just so amazing because although we couldn’t necessarily understand each other, we could still come together and make a beautiful sound,” she said.

Julia has also been a People to People ambassador and is a Partial International Baccalaureate student with a 3.74 grade-point average. She hopes to attend San Jose State University.

• • •

FAMILY: Parents, Brad and Maria Spencer; sister, Jessica Spencer, 24

HOBBIES: Reading, writing and crafts such as quilting, making friendship bracelets and cross-stitching

BIGGEST INFLUENCES: My family, friends, teachers and the books I read

LAST BOOK READ FOR PLEASURE: “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” by Oscar Wilde

FAVORITE TV SHOW: “Bones”

FAVORITE MOVIE: The 1954 version of “Sabrina”

BIGGEST FEAR: Not being able to achieve what I want to achieve

WHAT I’D TELL THE PRESIDENT: Our voices can’t be heard, but they are still there.

ADVICE FOR KIDS: Find a happy medium between work and play because they are equally important.

ADVICE FOR ADULTS: Don’t pressure your kids too much, because there is enough stress already.

— NORA CASSIDY/TEENS IN THE NEWSROOM

The Teen Hall of Fame honoree receives a $100 check from E.&J. Gallo Winery, movie tickets from Dr. Randy Winter with the Modesto Arts Medical Group, a gift card from Yogurt Mill and bowling passes from Yosemite Lanes.