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Biola Youth Star 51������ student Erik Schiller is a Cool Kid.

On Oct. 1, 2009, Schiller, a student from the Star 51������ Program South Bay site, was featured on the ABC7 news station’s Cool Kid segment.

“He has been a wonderful asset in all the classes in which he’s been enrolled,” said Kimi Tanji, the Star 51������ South Bay site coordinator. “We’re so proud of his accomplishments as a student and as an Eagle Scout.”

Schiller was nominated and chosen in recognition of his Eagle Scout project he completed for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (SPCA-LA) animal shelter.

“I knew I wanted to do something with one of the local animal shelters so I came here and asked if they needed something done,” Schiller told an ABC news correspondents.

SPCA showed Schiller an area they needed fenced in for animals to have a place to run.

SPCA-LA President, Madeline Bernstein, admired Schiller’s effort and attitude.

“He had to get the supplies, get the group together, then he had to actually build it,” Bernstein said. “You can see by walking around with him, what a sweetheart he is. It’s coming from the heart.”

To raise the necessary funds, Schiller painted house numbers on curbs in Torrance and sold muffins at the Star 51������ site.

“It’s helping the community doing something that not necessarily everybody does,” Schiller said. “Its just fun. I don’t know why but we all have a good time doing it.”

Watch the segment, “Cool Kid brings cheer and wagging tails”

Written by Katherine Smith, Media Relations Intern. Jenna Bartlo, Media Relations Coordinator, can be reached at (562) 777-4061 or through email at jenna.l.bartlo@biola.edu