Distinguished Finalist

Mary Welsh, 17, of Naperville, Ill., a member of the Girl Scouts-Fox Valley Council in Sugar Grove and a senior at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, helped raise almost $10,000 by organizing a team of 15 members to walk in an American Cancer Society Relay for Life. Motivated by the untimely death of her father to cancer, Mary promoted the event, recruited walkers, managed her team's camp-site, and solicited sponsors.