By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

RESERVE — Extraordinary talents are sometimes developed through formal training and lots of practice, and sometimes people are just born with amazing gifts.

Stevie Noyes, the 18-year-old daughter of Stephen and Lesley Noyes of Reserve, is an example of the latter.

Riverside Academy Assistant Principal Dr. Rhonda Perkins said Stevie, who is a senior at the Reserve school, plays an integral part in decorating for the school’s annual Carnival Ball.

“My first Carnival Ball when I came here, I had no idea what to expect,” Perkins said of her first experience seven years ago. “I had no idea it was such an extravaganza.”

The Carnival Ball is a fundraiser for the school, and Stevie and her mom Lesley work painstakingly long hours to construct the sets and decorations for the affair.

Lesley said she and her husband Stephen were both in gifted and talented art classes in high school at East St. John, but their daughter’s inherent artistic prowess was evident at a “very, very young age.”

Lesley said Stevie’s artistic gift was first noticed when she was 3 .

“We gave her a red, black and green crayon and she drew a half-slice of watermelon and wrote her name,” Lesley said laughing. “She just has an artistic gift.”

Stevie has used that artistic gift for the past several years as a part of the team helping to make each year’s Carnival Ball theme come to life through extravagant decorations.

Lesley and Stevie work together on some of the projects, and Lesley said the design plans for this school year’s ball, which will be held at the end of January, have been going on since the beginning of the school year.

Last year the ball’s circus theme meant Stevie spent considerable time creating lion and tiger paper mache decorations, which she also painted. She learned the art of paper mache through working with Riverside’s Carnival Ball Committee.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen asleep in the gym, only the wake up and get back to work,” Stevie said of the labor-intensive effort of creating decorations.

All of the hard work, however, is worth it, Lesley and Stevie said.

“It’s hectic up until that moment,” Stevie said of opening the doors of the school gym to the public for the event.

But when the crowds come in and the lights all hit the decorations, “I take in the whole vastness of it and think, ‘yup, I did that,’” Stevie said with a smile.

“I’m totally pumped for this year,” she said of the ball’s theme and her projects, which include a 50-foot mural.

Stevie said the ball’s theme is kept secret from the public until the night of the event, which adds to the fun of the decoration’s reveal.

With no formal art training, Stevie said she has always had an interest in drawing and creating things, as well as expressing herself through other creative outlets. But even though working on the ball’s decorations in under way, that doesn’t mean Stevie is shirking other responsibilities.

Stevie said she was formally introduced to music as a fourth grader at Riverside, and  “music has been my life since then.”

A student at Riverside since pre-kindergarten 3, Stevie is now the RA Band Drum Major, president of Mu Alpha Theta, Beta Club and Drama Club member and honor roll mainstay.

Stevie, nominated for Riverside’s Student of the Year, said she plans to attend Louisiana State University and major in pre-law or engineering. She’s getting a jump start on college credits this year, however, as she is participating in Riverside’s first year of offering college dual-enrollment courses.

Stevie is currently taking college-level music appreciation, algebra, biology and communication courses, which means she’ll enter college with at least 12 hours already under her belt.

All of those roles and responsibilities, which include time spent in St. John Theatre and school play productions, continue in spite of the time commitment of being involved in Carnival Ball, Stevie said. This week she was preparing to visit Reserve’s Southeast Louisiana War Veterans Home to give out Christmas gifts.

Convention weekends and special days for school clubs take up time she doesn’t necessarily have when in the thick of preparing for the ball, Stevie said, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

With January’s event being the last to serve in as a Riverside student, Stevie said she would “definitely be back to help” in the future because college’s long winter breaks would afford her the time and opportunity.

Stevie’s hard work and dedication in all she does doesn’t go unnoticed, Perkins said.

“She does it all,” Perkins said. “She’s a great artist, she’s a great musician and just a great person.”