SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - The San Mateo 17-year-old is a finalist in the international Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes competition, which honors 12 of 13,000 nominated youths. The Stanford-bound teen will learn if she made the final 12 on May 21.

What inspires a teenager to spend 20 hours a week helping people in addition to school? In my English class junior year, I read “The Grapes of Wrath.” ... Everyone in the book was interdependent of each other. I could see how that’s really true in our world. Everyone has their place, we all have the potential for good. Why not share that feeling?

Who taught you to be so generous with your time? I’ve been surrounded by generous people in my life, especially my mom, who would always take me to community service activities and charity fundraisers.

How have you been able to encourage other teenagers to volunteer? I put together a volunteer fair at Hillsdale High School, and you’d be surprised how many people were interested. Every month, I take a group of students to a volunteer event. For example, on Martin Luther King Day, we went to Golden Gate National Park and planted 1,000 new plants. It was raining, and we were on our hands and knees, in lots of pain. But we realized that lots of people have to do this for eight hours a day, and their whole lives.

Has this recognition helped in your quest to help others? Being recognized definitely motivates me, and I feel empowered to take my community service projects to the next level.

Is there anything in it for you? I think volunteering allows you to find out things about yourself that you may not have known before.

Comments from Examiner Readers

12:38 PM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Eric Bakhtiari"

Examiner Reader said:
great to hear local bay area sports. gives inspiration to others. not everyone gets to be barry b.

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11:55 AM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Eric Bakhtiari"

Examiner Reader said:
Great answer on the last question.

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9:45 AM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Eric Bakhtiari"

Examiner Reader said:
How nice it is to read about someone from our locale succeeding. Cudos to the writer for a fun well written interview and for following up in recognizing that a peninsula boy made it to an NFL team as an undrafted free agent.

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3:29 PM MST on Mon., Apr. 21, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Jim Fitzpatrick"

Bombers!!!! said:
Great!!! GO BOMBERS!!! This is so cool and brings back to when I was a kid eating this stuff up!!! YEA.

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3:37 PM MST on Sun., Apr. 20, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Jim Fitzpatrick"

George Chu said:
We attended the game last night and it was incredible! The house was packed and really got into it! The Bombers pulled off an exciting overtime victory. We can hardly waite till they skate their again.

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2:39 PM MST on Fri., Apr. 18, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Thomas Blake"

Examiner Reader said:
This show is absolutely HILARIOUS!! ...would love to see it again and have one of my friends chosen. And how HOT is Thomas Blake?!!

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8:28 PM MST on Sat., Mar. 29, 2008 re: "3-minute interview: Ben Moskowitz"

MCPS parent said:
Ben is on a power trip, following the lead of Nancy Navarro. This know-it-all kid has been put in dangerous position of power that adds no wisdom to the decisions of the school board.

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9:34 AM MST on Sat., Mar. 29, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Jack Hirschman"

Examiner Reader said:
Jack is incredibly human with love that will not be contained. Few of the like walk Earth.

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6:48 PM MST on Sun., Mar. 16, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Gretchen LeBuhn"

Examiner Reader said:
gretchen. three of us in Utah read your article, Snow prevents us from planting, but upon return to tiburon, we will plant sunflowers! Great idea to get data. Andy, Mara, and Evon

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10:23 AM MST on Thu., Feb. 28, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Jimmy Wales"

Gregory Kohs said:
Ack! Examiner, you asked the forbidden question! What�s next for Wikia and the Wikimedia Foundation? Those two entities are NEVER to be uttered in the same sentence within earshot of Jimmy Wales! It makes him go CRAZY! He is convinced that the two organizations are "completely separate" (even though for years, 60% of the Board seats of the Wikimedia Foundation were filled with Wikia employees). He will stop at nothing to re-educate the media, until we all believe there is NO CONNECTION! Look, even in his response to the question, he only talks about Wikia, not the Wikimedia Foundation. This is because he was too busy thinking of new ways to claim analogous "COMPLETELY SEPARATE" relationships to respond to the WMF part. For example, "George Bush and the oil industry are COMPLETELY SEPARATE entities"; "Donny and Marie Osmond are COMPLETELY SEPARATE entities"; "Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler are COMPLETELY SEPARATE entities". Seriously, Examiner - play fair with Jimbo.

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1:19 PM MST on Wed., Feb. 13, 2008 re: "3-Minute Interview: Leon Leyson"

Examiner Reader said:
who is oskar schindler?

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11:22 AM MST on Thu., Jan. 31, 2008 re: "3-minute interview: Sammy Hagar"

Examiner Reader said:
Why is Sammy Hagar alive?

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8:48 AM MST on Tue., Jan. 22, 2008 re: "3-minute interview: Ted Egan"

Kimo Crossman said:
Ted Egen is the fellow who wrote the glorious study advocating untold savings and usability for the EarthLink Wi-Fi deal even in the face of huge red flags. Even as it was all falling apart he refused to revise his report.

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7:30 PM MST on Sat., Dec. 8, 2007 re: "Rosenstein: �Plenty� of corruption here"

Anthony Kovalchick Senior said:
Where�s the Love??? Fumo has stated that he love�s Dick [Sprague] and Dick [Sprague] Love�s him. So why would he fire Sprague at such a crucial Time, with longtime friend, and don�t forget about the Laundry Service that Dick {Sprague} has provided for Fumo. Maybe Fumo has read thefixersprague.com and thought to himself you may be indicted next for all of your criminal activities, or maybe Fumo made a deal with the U.S. Attorneys office to give up DICK? Whatever the case may be I still Hope and Pray everyday, that I will get Justice For my late wife Helen Kovalchick, who was a Victim of Crime at the hands of Dick [Sprague] and Robert J. Rosenstein, Father of Rod J. Rosenstein, U. S. Attorney Of Maryland. The Fraud R/S Financial Corporation, which Robert J. Rosenstein Is President of; never had a Banking license in Pennsylvania. But why would you Need one to be money laundering and racketeering, when your son is a U.S. Attorney You can cover it all up. Its ironic, Rod

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1:44 PM MST on Sun., Nov. 25, 2007 re: "Rosenstein: �Plenty� of corruption here"

Examiner Reader said: said:
Corruption is rampant in the city....we would venture to say that over 75% of what happens in the city, at various levels is corrupt. Rosenstein in our opinion is doing as best as he can. But your talking about deep seeded corruption, that has been allowed to florish over the years. That's tough to break, but it can be done, with high profile arrests of certain individuals who use the limelight to hide behind, while at the same time doing dirty deeds...behind closed doors. But we believe the Fed's are aware of this, and they are watching and waiting....

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6:21 AM MST on Mon., Aug. 13, 2007 re: "3-minute interview"

Examiner Reader said:
For the Captain to even give an interview , contradicts what residents hda feared all along. Why when this woman told what she knew was killed and her murder remains unsolved.? MPD need to really do more than only show up after fact. They need to do more policing and stop making excuses for how laxed they are in solving crimes. They have a protocol that does not help the prosecutors when they do get case. So many families in the District have lost loved ones and have been harassed by MPD that they don't even get the respect of serving and protecting. Read the Inspector General 2007 report of how unprofessional these detectives are. You can read a newspaper and stare into the the tv screen, but families in DC are sick and tired of the murders and tired of being accused of MPD blunders and mishaps...

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