When I was 14 years old Daniel Armstrong was the keynote speaker at my induction ceremony into the National Honor Society.  He spoke about a school that was started in Africa under a tree with one teacher and one student that is now an actual thriving school.  He talked to us briefly about “planting our tree and watching it grow.” 

Even though I was listening to him and understood him, the meaning behind his words eluded me.  After all, I'd just achieved my dream, which was to get into National Honor Society.  It had been my goal for two years.

A week after the induction ceremony my best friend's father was diagnosed with cancer.  All summer I tried to help but couldn't as I watched my friend, his four siblings and his mother run the gauntlet of treatments and jump through hoops for their insurance company.  In three months their father died.  It was then I realized I had to do something in his name.

At the time it seemed like a small gesture.  It was September and Club fest, when you introduce new clubs at your school, was coming up.  I decided to start Cancer Awareness Club.  I was shocked when 75 kids signed up; more than any other new club.  All these kids had been in some way touched by cancer. 

Our most impressive fundraiser was a bracelet drive.  I found bracelets on the internet that were plastic and “I will,” for I will support people who have cancer.  I negotiated a rock bottom fee of 50 cents a bracelet and we sold them for three dollars.  We made 2,000 dollars.

I started calling social workers at local hospitals when my neighbor, who is a doctor at Kaiser, told me to call someone where she worked.  It was then that Daniel Armstrong's words came to the forefront of my mind and there meaning became crystal clear.  A social worker told me about a girl who had lost her leg to cancer and, even though she had insurance, she could not afford a prosthetic.  That's where the money that we raised ended up going. 

I decided that the focus of Cancer Awareness Club would be to help insured families of kids who have cancer because insurance doesn't always cover everything.  Since then, a year later, at 15 I was one of the keynote speakers at the National Honor Society at the induction ceremony.  Now 18 months after Daniel Armstrong came to my ceremony, Cancer Awareness Club is at 5 schools nationally and growing. We will have our first run walk on June 10, 2006 and we are going to be a non-profit organization so we will be able to raise more money to help a lot of kids. 

One of the most interesting things that has happened is the more we try to help people, the more people want to join us to help the less fortunate. 

Lucky Brand Jeans is our main sponsor and Whole Foods has agreed to provide water and protein bars for our run walk.

The sky is the limit!  Before I heard Daniel Armstrong speak I was still a good citizen but my focus was on me:  my grades, my friends, my family; the immediate nucleus of my life.  Mr. Armstrong completely opened my world view and changed that focus.  My goals are no longer about me but about helping others who can't help themselves.  For that I owe Daniel Armstrong a huge debt of gratitude because my life is so much richer.