Area Teenagers Making a Mark On the World

What teenager has time these days between SAT prep classes and Advanced Placement biology? There's instant messaging to be done and Facebook updates to be made. Many students in the Washington region pour more hours into school than they would into a full-time job.

But between those essays and tests, a growing number of young people are carving out time to reach beyond the classroom. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, the percentage of teenagers taking part in community service projects more than doubled from 13.4 percent in 1989 to 28.4 in 2003-05.

Here are three young people in the Washington area who want to make the world a better place with internships and volunteer work, whether taking care of the planet, helping children cope with the frustration of fractions or finding a cure for cancer. Taking up space on this planet is all well and good, they say, but if that is all it's about, what's the purpose? These teenagers want to use their time to do something.