Springer, state Grand Worthy Advisor

Erica Springer of Siloam Springs was crowned grand worthy advisor -- or president -- of Arkansas Rainbow Girls.

For the next year, she will speak and lead at state level events, visit the seven Rainbow Girls installations in the state, and represent Arkansas at other state and international Rainbow events. She will also serve as a role model for other Rainbow girls.

Three other Siloam Springs members -- Maddie King, Tabitha Eiland and Candy Cubon -- were also installed in state offices during 91st Arkansas Grand Assembly Session on June 16

International Order of the Rainbow for Girls is a service organization for young women associated with the Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star, according to the organization's website www.gorainbow.org/history. Worldwide, there are more than 850 assemblies.

Locally, the organization holds formal meetings twice a month and has informal sisterhood meetings twice a month, where they come together to do fun projects or activities such as baking cookies. They also do service projects and volunteer in the community, Springer said.

Springer said she was a quiet and soft-spoken 11-year-old when she joined the organization eight years ago. Now she is a skilled public speaker, a confident leader and has a commanding presence when she enters a room, thanks to the lessons she learned in Rainbow girls, according to Maribeth Riesbeck, mother advisor of Siloam Springs Rainbow Girls Assembly 11.

"She's just a great kid," Riesbeck said. "If you would have known her 10 years ago, we never heard her voice. She started sassing us and from then on, it was growth like no other."

Springer grew up in Siloam Springs and graduated from Siloam Springs High School in 2017. This fall she will start her sophomore year in college at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where she is studying to be a high school French teacher.

She started holding offices in the local Rainbow organization early on, and held her first state office at the age of 14.

"It's definitely helped me to be able to speak to people, because I used to be really quiet," Springer said. "Through Rainbow, it's taught me to stand up for myself and speak out, it's taught me how to speak publicly, I would say high school was a whole lot easier with Rainbow because it taught me how to make friends and just be a good person in general."

To earn the title of statewide grand worthy advisor, Springer had to serve at least one year as a local grand worthy advisor, then work her way up in the state offices and serve one year as vice president, before going through an application and interview process with state officials for the position.

Springer actually applied for the office twice. When she didn't get it the first time, she persisted and applied a second time because it meant a lot to her, she said.

Springer served as vice president last year while her college roommate Abby Rushin served as Grand Worthy Advisor. Springer's installation ceremony, held on June 16 in Springdale, was a very emotional event.

"It's so crazy being there, being on the spot like that, because as a girl you grow up watching that and you're like, 'Wow, that's so amazing, I could never think about doing that,'" Springer said. "In some of the photos, before they put the crown on me, you can see I'm about in tears because I'm like, 'Oh gosh, this is actually happening to me.'"

While the person being crowned is feeling joy, the event is bittersweet for the person stepping down because they have put their whole life into the office for the past year. The former grand worthy advisor receives a crown of roses to symbolize the victory of her reign.

"I sobbed through her entire installation, I was so proud of her," Reisbeck said. "I was thrilled, she absolutely deserves it. I could not be more proud of her."

During her time in office, Springer plans to focus on boosting membership numbers across the state. She will also be completing a service project for veterans of foreign wars.

"I chose veterans of foreign wars because I feel like veterans are all too often forgotten about and we need to give back some of what they gave for us," she said.

Springer is one of three Siloam Springs Rainbow Girls members who have earned the top office in the state over the past five years. Maribeth Reisbeck's daughter Elizabeth Reisbeck served as grand worthy advisor two years ago, and Rachel Carr Edwards held the office in 2014. Previously, Siloam Springs residents Kathy Van Poucke Murray held the office in 1978 and 1979, and Cindy Dilbeck Covington held it in 1989 and 1990.

Springer is hopeful the skills she has learned in Rainbow Girls will help her in her future career as a teacher, whether she is conducting staff meetings or standing in front of a classroom. She also hopes to pass on the leadership skills she has gained to her future students and encourage them to be leaders as well.

"If you have a girl between 11 and 20, you definitely need to think about Rainbow because it is an absolute amazing organization," she said. "I really don't know where I would be without Rainbow, who I would be, where I would be, or what I would be doing. It's definitely helped plant an amazing seed in me that will make me grow into an amazing woman that I hope to be."