Ramya Kumar, 17

Accomplishments: Raised $4,325 for tsunami victims in India through the Social Justice Club. The money was used to help purchase fiberglass boats and build new schools and storage facilities in a fishing village.

Last month, Kumar, who is captain of the high school's varsity crew team, learned firsthand what it's like to be a flood victim. Kumar, her sister, and mother were evacuated twice from their apartment during the flooding of the Merrimack River.

Kumar, distraught at first, pulled herself together and served as an informal liais on between the high school and other students displaced from their homes.

Destination: Boston University, biology and international relations

In her words: ``I come from a single-mom family. It's really her and the Lord I have to thank right now. That's kind of why I want to be a doctor because of her. I want to be an OB-GYN and help kids. Maybe I could work for the UN as a doctor. That would be a great way to end up. I love diplomacy, I love politics, and I love the sciences. It would really be cool to go out into the world like Angelina Jolie. But I also would like to open up a free clinic like the one they have here in Lowell for people like my mother and myself who sometimes couldn't afford health benefits. I think it's better I've come from an inner city because I see the things we need to fight."

In the words of school headmaster William Samaras: ``She's a young lady who has a mission of trying to do the right thing. She's teaching a lot of us."