About me
In 1996, when I was nine, my grandmother died and my life has never been the same since. I was very depressed but finally realized that if I were ever going to heal, I would have to reach out. I began publishing a by-kids-for-kids newspaper, donating all profit to the American Cancer Society in honor of my grandmother. Four months after the start of the paper, a subscriber sent me an article which changed my life. It was about the war in Bosnia and a cellist whose nonviolent protest so impressed me that it became the impetus for my work as a peace builder. I immediately began working for world peace and multiculturalism. By 1998, I had founded a not-for-profit corporation to empower and unite youth across racial, ethnic, religious, and economic lines to work for human rights, social justice, multicultural harmony, and peace. Also at age 11, I officially commissioned The Children's International Peace-and-Harmony Statue and began uniting youth across the globe to help raise funds for the statue. In 1999 I founded Youth for Peace in the Year 2000, an international delegation of young people who raise awareness for peace and funds for the statue and who will travel to Bosnia for a summit with Bosnian youth at the dedication of the statue. In 2000, I launched Youth for Harmony in Action, a local group of diverse middle and high school students committed to promoting multiculturalism through education and community service. The group's major endeavor is READ…SUCCEED..LEAD, a literacy program I created to encourage reading, improve reading skills, and promote appreciation for multicultural harmony in primary school children.

Today the newspaper which I began publishing 6 years ago has readers in 29 states and 19 foreign countries and work on the life-size bronze statue which I commissioned 3 years ago has begun. What I am most happy about is that the $25,000 which has been raised toward the needed $50,000 involves the work of young people across the globe who have taken the message of harmony as the only viable alternative to war to their classmates and their communities. Thus, this statue represents the voice of youth calling for an end to war and genocide and a new millennium in which peace and harmony reign.

When I am not involved in peace work and local community service projects, I enjoy reading, especially fantasy, computer programming, Japanese anime, playing video games and strategy card games, and just hanging out with my friends. In 1996, when I was nine, my grandmother died and my life has never been the same since. I was very depressed but finally realized that if I were ever going to heal, I would have to reach out. I began publishing a by-kids-for-kids newspaper,... (more)