Bryan Mann, The Examiner
2007-04-11 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

During her sophomore year, Lisa Tom hoped to begin a program to raise awareness about students with disabilities. She had to start with no budget and no members — just an idea.

Despite the challenge, like many of her big goals, Tom turned the idea to reality.

Now an 18-year-old senior who played field hockey for Atholton High last fall, her curiosity and ambition have made her successful in many ways, with a list of activities that include an internship at the Maryland House of Delegates, volunteer work at a military clinic and involvement with the Student Government Association. Meanwhile, she captained the field hockey team and has maintained a perfect 4.0 regular and a 4.76 weighted GPA during her four years in high school.

To start her program, which is called “Best Buddies,” she networked with other student-athletes, made posters and held fundraisers to combat a non-existent budget. She asked athletes in other sports to stand up in front of teammates — something she also did — and talk about the goals of the program, which makes one-on-one pairings of high-school students with students who have intellectual disabilities.

Tom’s plan worked. Best Buddies now has an operating budget and more than 60 members.

“The most important thing was to get other students to care about the issue,” Tom said. “It’s easy to want to do something, but hard to get others to help.”

Like Best Buddies, Tom has found success in her many other endeavors. Her résumé includes being president or captain of the various organizations, but she still balances it with the perfect GPA and a commitment to playing for a varsity team.

“It’s tough for players to sort out priorities and balance it all,” Atholton field hockey coach Jim Brown said. “It all pulls on you. She does an excellent job. … Whatever she had on the field, she worked to get, and the other players saw that.”

In June, Tom will graduate and likely go to a prestigious university. She has received acceptance letters from schools like Princeton and Yale, but hasn’t made up her mind yet.

When she gets to college, she might try to play club field hockey, but her main goal is to experience many new things, just like she did in high school with various organizations like Best Buddies.

“I am definitely looking forward to college, and I want to take advantage,” she said. “I am looking forward to trying things I have never done before.”