Courtney Tharp's fellow high school students aren't at all surprised that she was named homecoming queen this week. They love her smile, her enthusiasm and her upbeat attitude about everything. Who cares if she struggles with fine motor skills or has some speech difficulties? Diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was 9 months old, Courtney, now 17, found out on Monday night that her fellow seniors wanted her to be their queen.
Seventy-eight-year-old Tona Herndon of Oklahoma was already vulnerable in every way when her purse was stolen while visiting her husband's newly dug grave. The thief's mugshot flashed across the TV screen after he was caught and 15-year-old Christian Lunsford recognized the culprit to be his wayward father. Then, the 15-year-old did something remarkable.
A 13-year-old boy, Easton Gamoke, scored a full-court shot for his Minnesota basketball team in the last second of the game, bringing his team to victory last weekend. Not only that, he recreated it the next day on his first try.
A Florida student who lost his mother to leukemia and became homeless, has finished every homework assignment on time and finished with a 4.65 grade-point average to become valedictorian of his class. Griffin Furlong always clung to one belief: Never give up, which is written inside his baseball cap.
This teen was washing windows at the fast food restaurant when he stopped to offer an elderly woman a "touch of heaven."
When she was seven, Blakely Colvin had to endure three years of chemotherapy to counter the effects of a rare auto-immune disease, but her empathy for child cancer patients really kicked-in when she was in eighth grade and heard about another student her age who was diagnosed with leukemia and forced to quit school to battle the cancer. Without even knowing the boy, she decided to help his family and give him a reason to smile again. Her inspiration came from her love of baking and cupcakes. Her desire to make a difference in the life of just one cancer kid has in five years blossomed into a cupcake charity empire spanning fifteen states that has raised more than $85,000 to help children like Kevin.
16-year-old Allyson Ahlstrom of Santa Rosa, Calif., wasn't satisfied with the idea of underprivileged teen girls settling for wearing used clothing from a thrift shop. At an age when outward pressures can easily threaten a girl's self esteem, she should be able to look her best and take pride in her appearance. That's why Allyson created Threads for Teens, a clothing boutique that gives girls in need a confidence-booster when they walk out the door with two brand new head-to-toe outfits. This month she was named one of 15 teen Huggable Heroes and awarded $10,000 in cash and a $7,500 educational scholarship for her outstanding work.
A boy from Coventry, England has become the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in the world after passing the exam when he was just five years old. He learned about computers from his IT father and by taking apart old computers.
A 10-year-old boy was moved to tears when he saw the Space Shuttle Endeavour fly over his school on its way to its new home at the California Science Center and even more excited when he could walk around the gargantuan space craft at the museum, touching the tires that flew in space. Suddenly he saw the possibilities of a career in math, science, technology and engineering.
Nick Ruth has been playing the Lottery for just over a year, but this past Friday, he said it "just felt right." Following that intuition made him $250,000 richer. The young winner, who has been in remission from leukemia for seven years, said: "As a cancer survivor, it is really important for me to give back. I want to ‘pay forward' what some wonderful local organizations did for me.
Natasha Tse was born prematurely at 29 weeks with congenital cerebral palsy but starting at age five she used therapeutic riding to re-invent herself as an athlete. She earned Hong Kong a place in the London Paralympics equestrian dressage competition in London this week.
14 Year old Will Thomas is not just shooting hoops. He's using his jump shot, and Operation Hawkeye, to honor and raise money for fallen special operation troops and their families.
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