State Honoree

Gabrielle Barrientos, 18, of Biloxi, Miss., a senior at Kolbe Academy in Napa, Calif., co-founded a nonprofit organization that raised more than $20,000 to provide musical instruments and instruction to impoverished children in Saltillo, Mexico. When Gabrielle and her sister traveled to Saltillo on a mission trip, they were stunned by the poverty and street violence they witnessed. "I never fully understood what true poverty was until my initial trip to the San Miguel Mission," Gabrielle said. "I knew that there had to be a way to influence the lives of local children for the better and to keep them off the streets."

Upon returning to Mississippi, Gabrielle and her sister immediately began working on a plan to introduce the poor children of Saltillo to classical music. They assembled an adult advisory board and a teen fund-raising board, and began raising money. They sold balloon animals and painted faces at local festivals, performed at a fund-raising dinner, held a silent auction, asked local organizations for donations, and applied for a grant. After a year of effort, the Barrientos sisters and 12 other volunteers traveled back to the San Miguel Mission to deliver musical instruments and equipment and to hire a permanent instructor to teach 10 local children how to play the violin. They also entertained 280 other children by performing bilingual puppet plays and taught them how to make their own puppets. Gabrielle says her organization, Strings with Wings Inc., hopes to begin providing musical instruction to foster children on Mississippi's Gulf Coast this year. "You don't have to create an organization to make an impact," said Gabrielle. "All you have to do is care and take action."