Fourth-grader Stefanie Rodriguez impresses with her sharp mind and eagerness to learn, but her teacher said that what distinguishes her from many smart students is her empathy.
The 10-year-old recently organized her classmates to write letters to students wounded in the Virginia Tech shooting. For her birthday this year, she asked her friends to donate to the American Cancer Society instead of bringing gifts.
For two years, Stefanie has collected yogurt container lids to raise money for the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and she visits her grandfather and other residents weekly at a convalescent home.
"Fourth-graders don't usually think of others in that way," said Lori Scott, Stefanie's teacher at Riverview Elementary School in northeast Fresno. "She's the one who would notice that someone isn't being played with on the playground and invite them to play."
Stefanie said she's most proud of being a Sparthenian Reader in a Clovis Unified program to reward kids who read a certain number of books, being on the Principal's Honor Roll at her school and for writing a winning essay about her father.
She wants to pursue a career in medicine, inspired by television shows such as "Untold Stories of the ER" and her grandmother's problems with diabetes.
"I'm always telling her, 'I'm going to make up a cure for you so you can get better,' " Stefanie said.
Scott expects Stefanie to achieve her goals: "She has everything it takes to make her dreams come true."
-- Anne Dudley Ellis
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