Nicolle Vann from Cheatham County High School, Ashland City, Tennessee

Nicole is very active in the Cheatham County 4-H. She started showing cattle in 1993 and had to learn the ins and outs of exhibiting cattle on her own. Seeing a need to help new exhibitors prepare for showing their cattle, Nicole organized a countywide instructional field day. She recruited speakers to make presentations on such topics as proper dress in the show ring, types of equipment and the various techniques of grooming and showmanship. The event was very successful and will be an annual event.

Nicole plans to attend the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Abigail Vertalka from Waverly High School, Lansing, Michigan

Abby is involved with The Greater Lansing Youth Community Foundation in Lansing, Michigan. This is a group of teens from many different schools who work together to promote community service and philanthropy. With a Foundation grant of $100, Abigail worked with 50 fifth graders from the local elementary school to decide on a project, apply for the grant, obtain permission from community officials and implement their project-purchasing and painting trash cans for the community park.

Abby will begin her senior year of high school in the fall of 2001.

Robert Vesely from Lynch Public School, Lynch, Nebraska

Robert is from a small town of about 300. Working with the Lynch Community Club to develop tourism in the town, Robert developed and maintains two websites. The Lewis & Clark website promotes the natural beauty of the air and local tourism possibilities Additionally, Robert initiated a community website which includes local news, movies and the weather. Robert has also developed tourism brochures that have been distributed statewide.

Mitchell Technical Institute in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Phillip Villanueva from Athens High School, Troy, Michigan

Phillip has been a member of Project LEAD, a school and community service club, for four years. He is involved in many community service projects ranging from tutoring local students, and working with senior citizens in the computer lab, to volunteering in the emergency room of Saint John Hospital. His most notable project is his work with Blight Busters to clean up the city of Detroit. Blight Busters purchased a boarded up and burned out building and Phillip worked with a crew of people to remove trash, pull down boards, and dispose of an abandoned car on the property.

Phillip will attend the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in the fall of 2001.

Annie Ward from Garden Valley High School, Garden Valley, Idaho

Annie is an active member of the Garden Valley Youth Volunteers and has been a catalyst for creating a number of highly successful programs and projects. Her most significant project is the Lunch Buddies program, in which high school students are paired with elementary students each week during the elementary lunch hour, as mentors. She coordinated the project with the elementary school teachers who helped identify students who sometimes seemed isolated and needed a friend. Annie then involved approximately 15 other high school students to serve as mentors, paired the high school students with appropriate buddies and oversaw, as well as participated in, the program. The program has doubled in size in the course of one year and will continue to remain in existence even though Annie graduated in June 2001.

Annie will attend Boise State University in Boise, Idaho.