Joshua Taylor from Perkins-Tryon High School, Perkins, Oklahoma

Joshua designed a program to benefit "at risk" children in his small rural community which has been experiencing a dramatic increase in illegal drugs, gangs, graffiti and juvenile crime. The program creates mentoring partnerships between elementary school classes and National Honor Society members at Perkins-Tryon High School. Once a week, the high school students spent their lunch hour tutoring and playing with more than two hundred younger students. Joshua worked closely with school officials to plan the program and implemented a training program for the volunteer mentors. The program will continue as a National Honor Society activity now that Joshua has graduated.

Joshua will attend Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Nisha Sahay from Mt. Carmel High School, San Diego, California

Nisha created R.E.A.D, Reading for Entertainment and Development, at the end of her freshman year of high school. R.E.A.D, which Nisha organized as a new school club, matched high school volunteers with elementary school children for weekly reading sessions. The program has grown to three sites reaching about one hundred children.

Nisha graduated from high school in 2001 and now attends Dartmouth College.

Brandi Steel from Arthur County High School, Arthur, Nebraska

Brandi decided to do something about the fact that her community, Arthur, Nebraska, has been without a grocery store for the last three years. The closest grocery store was over 50 miles away. With the help of her high school Business teacher and 25 high school members of her SIA (Students in Action) group, Brandi wrote a business plan, held community meetings, developed a board of directors, secured the support of local businesses, and eventually brought a student-run grocery store to Arthur. The store will operate as a high school class and will make grocery shopping easier for the entire community.

Brandi will attend the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Joannie Bryan from Lodi High School, Lodi, CA

Joannie has been raising guide dog puppies for the blind for nine years. She takes an eight week old puppy and trains it until it is about a year old, at which time she returns the puppy to be trained as a guide dog at the Guide Dog for the Blind School in San Rafael. Joannie has taken her commitment to the guide dog program public, giving presentations to the community in nursing homes, school classes and 4-H clubs. These presentations have brought others into the puppy raisers group.

Joannie will attend California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

Amanda Browning from Decatur High in Decatur, Alabama

As a high school sophomore, Amanda led a campaign to prevent another tragic train accident like the one that killed two of her friends that summer. She organized a petition drive to have warning lights and bars installed at the intersection of the train tracks and the highway, and made sure that everyone realized that the only existing warning sign, a stop sign, was covered by bushes and was impossible to see. Amanda arranged for media coverage of her campaign, insuring that the public continued to focus its concern on the issue of safer train crossings. Her persistence resulted in a safer crossing that will benefit the entire community for years to come.

Amanda is currently a junior in high school. She will receive her scholarship when she begins college.