Outstanding Grads Of 1999 -- On Their Way In The World

Even as high-school students, some people just know where they're going in life.

They know where their talents lie. They exude passion for those things they do well and follow their dreams with a sense of conviction.

They're more than just good students. They're budding leaders, compassionate friends, dedicated community volunteers. Nothing in life stops them, whether it's a devastating illness or a troubled family.

Every year, The Seattle Times solicits nominations from the community for outstanding graduating seniors - students who have set goals and high expectations and achieved them, are creative or artistic, demonstrate leadership, show kindness and compassion for others, and exude passion. This year, we received more than 300.

It wasn't easy to choose among so many. But here are the ones who impressed us the most. Read on, and you'll see why.

Regina Piampanichwat, Tyee High School

Regina Piampanichwat shouts over the rumbles and beep-beep-beeps of bulldozers and other heavy-duty equipment. Her eyes light up when a contractor invites her to step aboard one of the huge machines.

"Really? Cool!" she squeals, as her white high heels sink into a mound of soft dirt.

It's not every day a teenager is so warmly welcomed at aconstruction site. But Piampanichwat is - after all, she's practically the boss.

Through a marketing-class project, she helped design the new student-commons area being built at Valley Ridge Park next to Tyee

High School.

She worked with city officials to raise $700,000 for the project and helped hire the site contractor.

The park renovations, scheduled to be complete by Sept. 15, include a new outdoor basketball court, a roller-hockey rink, a skateboard park, a picnic area, restrooms and additional playground equipment.

"They're supposed to put my name on it, but we're still talking," the 18-year-old says with a wink. "Well, not name on it, but one of those signs with `helped design.' "

And though her park experience could give her a head start in city planning, Piampanichwat will attend Washington State University and study hospitality. She hopes to become a marketing manager for a hotel company.

Nancy Branom, a teacher in Tyee's Academy of Travel and Tourism, says Piampanichwat was a "self-described generic freshman" who blossomed after being elected homecoming royalty, playing soccer and working as a peer mediator.

"She has the guts to refuse to accept the status quo, the intelligence and tenacity to get things done and the grace to smile when her last name is mispronounced," she said.

When Piampanichwat was 10, she and her sister spent a summer in Bangkok with family. The first in her family to graduate from high school, she says the trip made her appreciate why her father "values education so greatly."

"It made me realize that it is not what you don't have, but what you do have that counts," she said.

She hopes to visit Thailand, again, after college graduation.

- Lisa Pemberton-Butler

Tim Doyle, Lake Washington High School

He can recite the theories of all the great modern-day philosophers, expound on the culture of the Yi Dynasty and earn money selling his art work.

Tim Doyle,17, is a modern-day Renaissance man. He has a perfect grade-point average and a voracious appetite for knowledge, which he mines from his beloved books.

His latest reading list includes the works of Ayn Rand and "The Fall of the Roman Empire" - and that's just for leisure.

Doyle, who plans to major in philosophy at Reed College in Portland, devours books well into the night and needs two alarm clocks to get up in time for his first class. "I can't sleep if I have something on my mind," he said.

Lately, the Kirkland resident has had a lot on his mind - like re-creating the ancient Shino-style glaze for the ceramic teapots he makes.

"Most of my students just use the glaze I buy," said art instructor Dawn Wyatt. But Doyle used his knowledge of chemistry to concoct his own formula for wood-fired ceramics.

"I think about the Renaissance men and how they would combine science and the arts, and that is what I see him doing with such fluency," Wyatt said.

His latest work includes a 30-piece dinnerware set. Some of his work has sold for up to $60. Other work is on display at the Kirkland Arts Center.

Doyle, though, hasn't mastered the concept of returning library books in on time. His overdue fines sometimes cost more than the books themselves. Doyle said he loses track because he checks out so many.

But the school librarian has been forgiving, allowing him to hang on to the books until the end of the semester since his taste is so esoteric.

Said Doyle, "I check out books no one wants to read."

- Tan Vinh

Kia Franklin, Seattle Preparatory School

There's a classic education experiment that goes something like this: Several students are pulled out of a classroom and told they are gifted. Once average students, they begin to excel and earn high grades. Kia Franklin, a graduating senior at Seattle Preparatory School, feels as if she was such astudent. She was a second-grader at a Seattle public school when administrators noticed she scored well on aptitude tests, and moved her into a program for gifted students. Franklin never looked back, excelling in the Seattle district'sgifted programs beginning in second grade. Today, at the private Seattle Prep, Franklin has maintained a 3.95 grade-point average, and she scored in the top 2 percent of all seniors nationwide in a national achievement test. She juggles the highs of being president of Seattle Prep's dance squad and a class officer with the lows of helping her mother battle breast cancer. Franklin is part of Seattle Prep's Mateo Ricci program in which seniors with high GPAs spend their senior year in college. She attends Seattle University where she takes French, logic and ethics, and a class in social-cultural transformation. This fall she plans to attend either the University of Southern California or Stanford University, both of which have offered her scholarships. She plans to major in journalism. "Ever since I read about those students (who were told they're gifted) I've wondered if that might have had a role in how I felt about myself and my capabilities," Franklin said. "People were so encouraging and always told me I was smart. That's a big reason why some people are successful, because people tell them they can be successful." Franklin, 17, is committed to helping others. She tutors several fifth-graders twice a week. She has worked for Habitat for Humanity, building walkways and fences for low-income families. As part of a volunteer program sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Franklin and other high school students created cards and baskets for the residents of Branch Villa Nursing Home in south Seattle. "Kia has quietly dedicated numerous hours to her community," says Doris Hickman, one of Franklin's elementary-school teachers. "She works hard at improving the lives of those less fortunate."

- Lynne K. Varner

Ian McFeron, Shorecrest High School

Ian McFeron's regular life came to an abrupt end last year in the middle of May. He was called out of biology class and told that Kevin Slattery, his friend since elementary school, with whom he'd shared skiing, sailing and boyhood secrets, the tall, smart, shy guy who sent girls flowers and teddy bears, had hanged himself.

McFeron was devastated. His mourning was punctuated with questions and filled with guilt. Why did Kevin do it? Why hadn't he known his friend needed help?

And as he struggled for answers, McFeron began to learn about suicide, particularly teen suicide, the second-most-common cause of death for young people in Washington.

McFeron, a baseball player with a 4.0 grade-point average and a part-time job, who has been accepted into the UW honors program and who's interested in becoming a novelist, thought maybe with knowledge, would come power.

He put together a 45-minute presentation on teen-suicide prevention - with pictures of Kevin and a comprehensive discussion of suicide statistics, myths, warning signs and recommendations. He's given the talk to students at the middle school he and Kevin attended, in numerous high-school classes, to a PTA group and at the Crisis Clinic.

"I'd felt helpless. Through the presentations, I felt like I could do something," McFeron said. "If I couldn't make a difference for Kevin, maybe I can make a difference for someone else."

His friend's suicide made McFeron more skeptical of conventional values, achievement and success, and angry that life moves so blindly ahead.

"I came back to school, and I looked around and I realized I was the only one still upset about it," he said. "How soon we forget such a tragedy. How soon we don't learn anything.

But McFeron's anger is tempered by compassion for Kevin's family. McFeron volunteered to be a surrogate big brother to Kevin's sister, and has since provided her with rides, advice and a shoulder to cry on.

`It's been hard for Ian," said Judy Slattery, Kevin's mother, who nominated McFeron for the Seattle Times Outstanding Graduate honor. `"ut he's been there for us."

- Nancy Montgomery

Lindsay Hampson, Mercer Island High School

The playground looked so dilapidated and barren that it saddened Linsday Hampson to think of children from abusive homes playing there.

So Hampson, 18, Mercer Island High School senior, set out last year to rebuild the play area for the Hickman House, a Salvation Army-sponsored shelter for abused women and children in Seattle.

She worked with an architect and landscaper to spruce up the courtyard. But there was no money to pay for services and supplies, so Hampson sought a grant from the Paul Allen Charitable Foundation.

The response came one afternoon while she was working at Virginia Mason Research Center as a lab assistant. The Mercer Island philanthropist had decided to give the Hickman House a $10,000 grant. She is still amazed the money came through.

"I guess most of it was asking from the heart," said Hampson, who ultimately raised $20,000 for the project.

Hampson, who has a perfect grade-point average and is Mercer Island's valedictorian, will attend Duke University in North Carolina in the fall. She hopes to become a doctor.

She juggles honor classes at school and ballet classes at Cornish College of the Arts. She has also performed in a Pacific Northwest Ballet production.

She received the Gold Award, the Girl Scouts' highest honor, and was also named the Outstanding Young Philanthropist by the Washington Chapter of the National Society of Fundraising Executives.

The result of her Hickman House playground project is a multilevel playhouse with a slide, surrounded by wood chips and a fence. A few months ago, she walked through the gate of the shelter and heard laughter resonating from behind a cedar tree. Three children were frolicking in the playground.

"That," said Hampson, "was the most gratifying part."

- Tan Vinh

Kamyar Habib, International School, Bellevue

When his fourth-grade class dissected a chicken, Kamyar Habib assumed he would be exempt from the exercise. After all, he was blind.

So he was shocked when his teacher called him to the front. If he couldn't see the chicken's heart, she said, then he could reach in and feel its slimy contours.

That was an important moment for Habib, who had lost his sight to cancer at the age of 8. The message was clear: Blindness is not an excuse.

Today, the 17-year-old is preparing to graduate from Bellevue's rigorous International School - an alternative school offering one of the most challenging curriculums in the area - with a 3.8 GPA.

An accomplished pianist, Habib has learned to play more than 100 compositions, including Beethoven's "Pathetique Sonata." He learned by listening and performs so well that that he has been hired to play at weddings, receptions and at malls.

He also holds a brown belt in tai chi, and he skis. Last summer, he earned two A's in classes he took at Harvard University.

Habib, the son of Iranian immigrants, has also taken courses at the UW and Bellevue Community College. He tutors students in French class and is fluent in Farsi.

"Nothing has ever held him back," said his father, Mohammad Habib.

Habib stays up until 3 a.m. reading classics and bestsellers, and gets up by 6:15 a.m. He said he wants everything life has to offer.

In a college essay that helped win him admittance to Columbia University, Habib wrote: "Beginning with the touch of a cold heart, but (more) importantly because of her very own warm and loving one, my fourth-grade teacher taught me the importance of meeting every challenge. . . ."

- Tan Vinh

Sage Klevjer, Thomas Jefferson High School

About 3 1/2 years ago, Sage Klevjer became a statistic: The victim of Washington's first unprovoked bear attack since 1974.

She and a companion encountered a black bear in the woods outside of their Sultan home. Klevjer screamed and the bear charged, biting her in the left thigh and right calf.

The teen played dead, and the 250-pound bear walked away; it was later killed by wildlife agents.

Today, Klevjer, a senior at Federal Way's Thomas Jefferson High School, is trying to avoid becoming another statistic:

"My mom was on welfare, and most people expect welfare kids to grow up and be on welfare," she says.

But this 17-year-old plans "to beat the stereotype of a state dependent" by attending college and becoming a pediatrician.

Social worker Arthur Rosengren admires the teen's ambition. "It's something I haven't found in many of the kids that I've worked with," he says.

Klevjer hopes to attend Whatcom Community College this fall and work toward an associate of arts degree, then transfer to Western Washington University.

Her goal is to work in a clinic and teach teenagers about birth control, and the responsibility of raising children. She also wants to help revamp the state's foster-care system, which she became a part of at age 13.

Although her family situation has been hectic, it hasn't stopped Klevjer from enjoying high school. While attending Sultan High, the teen won awards for showing horses, geese, chickens and pigs in Future Farmers of America. At Thomas Jefferson, she was manager of the gymnastics team and is in the Running Start program.

Through Running Start, Klevjer takes classes at Highline Community College, where she has a 3.0 average. She also works part-time at a card shop to earn money for tuition.

Klevjer says it's been distracting to bounce to different homes and schools, but the turmoil has motivated her to set goals and work hard.

"The best way to get revenge is to have a good life," she says. ". . . I hope that by making it through college and being a productive person, I can help people and give back to the community."

- Lisa Pemberton-Butler

Shane Maes, Highline High School

Shane Maes used to flunk classes and get into fights at Tyee High School.

Several of his friends were gang members, and he considered joining one, too.

"I wasn't concentrating on my school work," recalls Maes, 18, now a senior at Highline High School. "I was concentrating on who was fighting who."

His rebellious behavior got him kicked out of Tyee during the middle of his freshman year - probably the best thing that could have happened to him, Maes says.

He transferred to Highline, where he's been a top athlete and has kept his GPA above a 3.5 over the past two years. He's also been an active member in the Latino Heritage Club.

"This school was like a fresh start for me," he says. "At heart, I always knew I was a leader and better than that because of what (my parents) taught me. . . . I was hanging out with the wrong people, basically."

At Highline, Maes felt accepted by other students and found a strong network of teachers who encouraged him to succeed.

Kathy Reed, one of his teachers, says the teen has worked hard to turn his life around.

"He set goals for himself, such as getting better grades, being involved in his school and told himself that he was in charge of his destiny and would determine where he went," she says.

Once his grades were above average, Maes joined the wrestling team - which he says taught him about commitment. He played football - which he says gave him a strong sense of family.

Then, he met his girlfriend, who has helped him not be afraid to grow up, he says.

This fall, Maes plans to attend Renton Technical College and study auto refinishing. He's already helped his father restore several old cars at home.

He believes that everyone deserves a second chance.

- Lisa Pemberton-Butler

Hal (Curtis) Raines, Franklin High School

His teachers describe him as self-effacing, modest. But, said one, it's difficult to imagine not having Hal Raines around Seattle's Franklin High School.

Raines, 18, "is the kind of person who goes about each day doing what's right and what's good, without a second thought or any recognition," said Melanie Granfors, who teaches television production and broadcast journalism at the Mount Baker-area school.

In the four years he's attended Franklin, he's grown into an ad hoc role as the school's chief audio engineer and all-round audio-visual handyman, says Granfors. "Whenever anyone needs a presentation set up, they call on Hal."

She credits him with much of the behind-the-scenes work that has made many of Franklin's stage productions, presentations and programs successful.

Raines calls it just doing something he loves. "You just have to have a wide range of ability to believe you can do anything," he said.

His love affair with audio and video gear and musical instruments may well come from his dad, Curtis Raines Sr., a US West manager.

At school, Raines has taught himself television-production technology, and shares his expertise with fellow students, Granfors said. "He shoots, directs, lights, runs audio and composes music," she said.

Among his credits is filming and editing a video for a Black History Month celebration.

As his talent has blossomed, so has his personality, Granfors said. "There is a kindness and sensitivity about Hal that is exceptional."

Raines is also involved in his church's music program, playing drums and singing in the choir at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Central Seattle. He plays tuba in Franklin's marching band and is now turning his attention to playing keyboard.

He's a member of Jack and Jill and other community-service-oriented youth groups that spend time helping other kids and promoting pride in African-American heritage.

Raines hopes to enroll in an applied video communications program at Seattle Central Community College in the fall.

- Charles E. Brown

Kimberley Norton, Mountlake Terrace High School

Tiny infants, born too soon, weighing 3 or 4 pounds. Kimberly Norton wanted to help them.

Norton had learned that something as simple as a miniature flannel gown could help parents of premature infants feel happier around their babies by camouflaging tubes and wires and making preemies seem warmer and cozier in their isolettes.

"If the babies are just lying there naked, connected to tubes, they seem too fragile, and their parents are afraid to touch them," Norton said. "If they're wearing clothes, it helps the parents bond."

For her senior proect, Norton, who skipped sixth grade to become Mountlake Terrace High School valedictorian at age 16, founded a local chapter of Threads of Love, a Baton Rouge, La., ministry her mother had read about.

She organized a group of about 20 women to sew 103 little pastel day gowns for the preemies in the nursery at Providence General Medical Center and seven burial gowns for babies too small to live.

"The interment gowns are hard to make, just because of what they're being used for," Norton said. "A lot of the volunteers told me they cried when they were making them."

Norton found her volunteers through word of mouth, among her mother's associates and women at the fabric store where she bought the pastel flannel and light cotton fabric. She didn't sew the gowns herself; she made kits for the sewers, complete with ribbons, labels and the fabric already cut and ready to sew.

"It took hours and hours," she said.

It was an even bigger undertaking than planned because Norton was recovering from surgery to repair broken vertebrae and herniated discs that appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

With pain preventing sitting for weeks before the surgery, Norton could endure only a couple of hours each day at school. But she never asked for special treatment.

"I left a book in the classroom so she wouldn't have to carry it; that's the only concession I made," said Eeva Reeder, Norton's calculus teacher. "I was willing to be more flexible but she didn't need it. She took complete responsibility for her own learning."

Reeder said Norton is a standout, one of the strongest students she's had in years and "classy."

"She comes to class ready to play," Reeder said. "Her hallmark is her approach to problem-solving, her attitude that she can figure it out. Because she pays attention to detail, and she's such a good reasoner, she does figure it out."

- Nancy Montgomery

Kobin Kendrick, Nova High School

The award-winning school Web page that Kobin Kendrick designed received 180,000 hits in less than six months. But Kendrick is no ordinary computer geek; he's also an accomplished poet.

Kendrick, a student at Seattle's Nova High School, has an exceptional mind for literary analysis and theory, said Barbara Osborne, a veteran of 20 years of teaching.

Last year, Kendrick won a poetry contest for his works. This year, he's hosting Nova's poetry reading at Elliott Bay Books.

"He writes exceptional poetry that expresses not only significant content and emotion but also deep understanding of poetry tools like meter, breath and nuance of word choice," Osborne said.

Not only is he a good writer, but he has collected, encouraged and edited other students' writing.

"I guess one could say I was bitten by the bug during a basic introductory literature class," he said. "I just totally fell in love with poetry."

Kendrick is proud to be leaving his mark all around Nova, an alternative Seattle high school where students help chart their own academic courses and share in decision making.

He has served on a committee that hires Nova teachers. He's been on several student-government committees, including one that was responsible for buying and maintaining computers for the school.

He's taught a Web-page class to other students and participated in designing and publishing student magazines.

Kendrick says he may have inherited his love for the high-tech world. His grandfather was a computer programmer for the federal government. And an uncle is a computer programmer in Silicon Valley.

Kendrick plans to study linguistics at Macalester College in Minnesota in the fall. But first, there's Nova graduation in a couple of weeks.

And, as a bonus, his mother, Kathryn Kendrick, returned to school and will receive her bachelor's degree in fine arts from the University of Washington three days before Kobin receives his Nova diploma.

- Charles E. Brown

Katie Krummeck, Shorecrest High School

In her sophomore year, Katie Krummeck staged a quiet revolt of one.

Nominated as a homecoming princess for the second year, Krummeck and the other female royalty had to don white dresses, which most had purchased. The boys got to wear tuxes borrowed from a local shop for free. To add to the inequity, the homecoming tradition is centered on one male sport, football.

So during the ceremony, she left her seat to slip into something more comfortable - shorts and a T-shirt - and returned quietly to her seat to watch the rest of the celebration.

"It didn't seem fair. And this whole tradition, the virginal thing with white dresses, it was so bizarre," said Krummeck, a Shorecrest High School senior. ". . . It's not a celebration of people's talents, leadership skills or contributions."

Well, she's known for speaking her mind. But it's also her dogged commitment to fairness and bringing student voices into the discussion of school policies that have earned her the respect of her peers, administrators and teachers.

"She's very spontaneous and down to earth and humble, but she'll let you know what she thinks," said Shorecrest High School Principal Susan Derse.

Krummeck helped create the school's diversity task force during her three-year stint on the Shorecrest Site Council - a body of administrators, students, teachers and parents that reviews and recommends school policy. The need for such a panel was clear, she says, after an argument and scuffle involving racial slurs left students uneasy.

She also orchestrated student forums to learn students' opinions on the school's new attendance policy and she later played a role in negotiating some changes. Students wanted five days instead of two to turn in an excuse note for an absence. Administrators agreed.

"I saw it (the site council) as a really direct way to make a change in school politics," said Krummeck, who plans to study at Whitman College in the fall and go on to a teaching career. "And the nonteaching part of education interested me, too. . . . I'm a firm believer that education is given to you and not done to you."

- Keiko Morris

Erle Tompkins, Kamiak High School

Erle Tompkins never knew quite what to expect when he returned home from school. On a good day, there might be food in the refrigerator. More commonly, he would find the pantry empty and a growing stack of unpaid bills, the reminders of a family disintegrating under one member's gambling addiction.

Sounds like the story of a troubled teen destined for a bad end. But Tompkins had too much on the line - his drawing, his cartoons and his hopes of studying art.

"For me art was like . . . I got to do this so I can get the hell out of Dodge," said Tompkins, closing his eyes as he remembered his junior year. "I knew I had something going on."

He was right.

Tompkins, a senior at Mukilteo's Kamiak High School, is going to New York next fall to attend the School of Visual Arts. His preferred style is drawing, and he's most at home sketching a fantasy world of superheros he's been creating since kindergarten.

"I haven't seen too many students able to work at the speed he does and do high-quality work," said Robert Stockton, Tompkins' art teacher, mentor and now surrogate parent. "I told him that he has this talent and ability to do something with it. Or he can throw it away."

Last year, Tompkins spent all his afternoons in the school art room, pouring his energy into his own work as well as helping other students. He hammered away on stage sets for the school play.

He even turned a penalty into a productive activity: The 50 hours of community service required as the result of a speeding ticket became more than 500 volunteer hours at the Mukilteo Boys & Girls Club, tutoring other students in drawing. And he was named the Mukilteo Boys & Girls Club "Boy of the Year."

The work was rewarding and provided a refuge from home life. No one knew the full extent of his troubles, he says, not even his mother, who lives in New York.

In November, when his father lost his job and hocked Tompkins' car to pay personal debts, art teacher Stockton and his wife opened their home to Tompkins, allowing him to finish the year at Kamiak.

These days he's animated, joyful and full of plans - taking a cartooning class, creating movie sets.

"Life moves pretty fast," Tompkins said with a grin. "If you don't stop and look around you'll miss it."

- Keiko Morris

Christine Le, Interlake High School

The 11-year old boy with the tube in his mouth looked so lifeless to his family - chemotherapy had sapped so much of his strength and spirit.

His mother finally said aloud what some relatives were silently thinking - maybe the doctor should allow him to die if his condition worsened.

That's when Christine Le interjected that she wouldn't hear such thoughts about her younger brother, John.

She sat by his bedside every day after school to check on his condition. She slept by him on weekends to let him know they were in this together. And she kidded with him so he could have a sense of normalcy.

And John beat back his leukemia.

"In the most trying of times, she has always been strong-spirited," her mother, Thuy Le, said in Vietnamese.

Le, 17, will graduate from Interlake High School with a 3.75 grade-point average in the school's International Baccalaureate program, a rigorous two-year college-prep course.

But her real education, she says, came during her brother's illness. She learned discipline after juggling her homework while tutoring her brother to help him catch up.

And when her mother's diabetes and blood pressure worsened, Le became the mother figure - driving her mother to appointments, cooking and spending her school lunch hours getting bills paid.

She considers all this as a way to pay back her mother, a Vietnamese refugee who is raising the family on her own.

Le will attend the UW this fall to be near her family in case her mother needs help.

She plans to finish her undergraduate degree in California and then go to medical school but wants to return home.

"I'm going to try to take care of my mother," Le said. "I want a worry-free life for her."

- Tan Vinh

Megan Melo, Hazen High School

Megan Melo has wanted to be a doctor since age 5, and it's easy to understand why.

Her dad's a nurse anesthetist for Group Health. Her mom's a registered nurse at Highline Community Hospital. And what about her grandmother, who's described as the matriarch of this health-conscious household?

She's a nurse, too.

"That's been a big influence," says Melo. "My parents would always discuss cases at the dinner table, and I would try to listen, pick up and understand. It's always been around me."

This fall, Melo will leave the Northwest to study premed at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where she's received a full-tuition scholarship for four years.

After college, she hopes to work in low-income clinics and volunteer for overseas medical missions in Asia, Africa and South America.

She's already twice taken part in missions to Vietnam with her parents. During her first three-week visit, in 1995, she helped create a card catalog and check-out system at the library in Hue Hospital. The following year, she observed operating procedures.

In addition to volunteering at Highline Community Hospital and serving as a peer mediator, Melo has maintained a 3.926 grade-point average and has taken several college-prep courses.

Surprisingly, though, her favorite classes aren't related to science. The weekend poet describes English as her passion, and drama as her life.

Social causes are also a big part of her life. Earlier this school year, Melo helped establish the Hazen High Straight-Gay Alliance Club, and lobbied to save the Renton Teen Health Center, which almost lost its funding from King County.

She's always had plenty of support from her family in choosing medicine, but Melo says the trips to Vietnam are what persuaded her.

"They really changed my life," she says. "I think that's where any spirituality I have comes from, and I hope to go back soon."

- Lisa Pemberton-Butler

Sudhi Tyagi, Nathan Hale High School

Star Wars fans can revel in cinematic fantasies of intergalactic battles and gallant androids, but for Sudhi Tyagi the truth about galaxies is out there - and she intends to discover it.

Tuagi is an honors student, active volunteer and devoted sibling who plans a career in space science.

"My ultimate goal is to be an astronaut, go to space and create a community," she says. She acknowledges that even with her assistance, residents of Earth might not head to colonies on other planets in her lifetime. But maybe there is already life out there. And maybe the truth is closer than we think.

"You have to dream to make it a reality."

Tyagi is certainly a dreamer. She conjures up where she wants to go, then outlines the steps to take her there.

Tyagi and her brother and sister grew up in Seattle but left for more than a year to travel around their parents' native India. When she returned she had met numerous relatives, visited Indian cities and even learned some Hindi. But she felt like an outsider among her peers here.

So Tyagi worked to overcome shyness. The result? She is president of Hale's honor society. She's led clothing and food drives and raised money for an orphanage in Vietnam.

She is determined. When Hale decided to scrap its genetics class because of lack of interest, Tyagi appealed to classmates to sign up for the class, using current events like the cloning of a sheep to raise interest.

She uses failure as a lesson. When Tyagi performed below her expectations at the Science Olympiad competition, she took extracurricular science classes and studied independently to ensure she would be better prepared the next time.

When she decided she wanted to tutor elementary-school children, she set up a literacy program at Rogers Elementary. Along with two friends, Tyagi found grant money, created a lesson plan to improve first-, second- and third-grade reading and writing skills and found 20 Hale students to tutor.

"She has a very collaborative style," says Elaine Wetterauer, chair of the high school's English department.

Tyagi, 17, finds every aspect of studying science full of rewards. From the initial perplexity to the flood of warmth that comes with understanding, she says science is like finding your way home.

She plans to major in astronomy at the University of Washington.

- Lynne K. Varner