The spirit of giving is alive among teenagers.

• Author: Poland, Scott
• Position: American Thought - Statistical Data Included

ASHLEIGH CROWE of Suffield, Conn., organized a volunteer group called Ashleigh's Army to help improve living conditions and education in a small Dominican Republic village. Francesca Tenconi of Walnut Creek, Calif., founded the Children's Skin Disease Foundation and raised more than $100,000 to support research and start a summer camp for children with skin diseases. William Dunckelman of Houma, La., started a national program that brings fine arts programs to senior citizens via audio cassettes, videos, and literary collections.

These teenagers are among America's top 10 youth volunteers of the year, named national honorees in 2002's Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program, which pays tribute to youngsters in the fifth to 12th grades for exemplary community service. The deeds of teens like Crowe, who is 16, or Tenconi, 17, do not get the same kind of media attention as the acts of those who terrorize the nation's schools and violate Americans' sense of security. While it is impossible to ignore the shooting tragedies in schools across the country in recent years, it is imperative to recognize that today's youths too easily fall prey to false characterizations based upon the actions of just a handful.

Volunteering has become a trend amongst teens, and I have noticed in the aftermath of staggering tragedies how important it is for them to get involved to make the world a better place. I am proud to be on the board of Mothers Against Violence Everywhere, an organization that sponsors chapters of Students Against Violence Everywhere in schools in every state, and I am very impressed with the commitment these young people have to prevent violence by and against children. Young people are improving their communities with peer counseling and tutoring, coaching sports, participating in school governments, creating programs for the needy, spearheading fights against threatening diseases, and teaching seniors to use computers. Many were out in force long before the horrific events of Sept. 11 reminded us that there is an even-greater need to help others. The rate of teen volunteerism has been steadily on the rise ever since Pres. Bush issued a Call to Service for all Americans to commit at least 4,000 hours over their lifetime to volunteerism.

Today's teenagers behave better than they did even a decade ago, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Rates of murder, school violence, drug abuse, criminal arrest, violent death...