Lauren Echstenkamper is a 19-year-old freshman who happens to love French music, traveling, watching the West Wing and Alias, and interesting wrist watches--she currently sports a pink PowerPuff Girls one. She was a living history performer at a historical site for many years. She also loves books, and is currently trying to get through her favorite one, The Count of Monte Cristo, in French--which consists of not one, but two 700-page volumes. She has absolutely no idea what she wants to do in the future, though she loves her eclectic mix of karate, French, public policy, psychology and world music classes this semester.
Echstenkamper also happens to be in an elite group of 20 teenagers, a group that includes stars like Bow Wow, Kelly Osbourne and David Gallaghar (a member of the WB's 7th Heaven cast), as well as 14-year-old Rudy Garcia-Tolson, who runs six-minute miles and triathlons with his two prosthetic legs. And Olivia Bennett, 13, who found a release from her leukemia through painting and now, after being compared to her favorite artist Georgia O'Keeffe, sent the proceeds of one of her paintings to help children in Afghanistan.
So, aside from being one of many interesting members in the Class of 2006, what gets Echstenkamper into this talented group of teens?
Well, Echstenkamper really loves to read. And when she saw that many children in her affluent hometown of Sarasota, Fla., did not have books of their own, she started a book drive in her school and collected more than 1,000 books for the kids of Alta Vista Elementary School.
But Echstenkamper could not stop there--she realized that many of the kids could not read at all or didn't have people to read to them, so she started making books on tape. Then there were some kids who didn't understand English, so she recorded more tapes in Spanish. Eventually, the list of people who recorded their voices for the books on tape ranged from local teachers to Columba Bush, wife of Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and former U.S. attorney general Janet Reno. What began as a small book drive developed into The Bookworm Project, simply because, as Echstenkamper puts it, "I just kept seeing the needs and couldn't stop."
Echstenkamper's inability to stop has recently led Teen People Magazine to name her among 20 American teens who will change the world. In the April issue of the magazine, all 20 teens are highlighted for their accomplishments, and what the magazine says about Echstenkamper doesn't even scrape the surface of the good she has done in her community.
Aside from starting The Bookworm Project, which has now been adopted by the women's service organization Zonta International, Echstenkamper has helped to paint an anti-drug mural, worked on various community service boards that give grants to youth in the community or funds to non-profit organizations, and participated in activities with the Humane Society, among other things.
"Volunteering was my sport," says Echstenkamper, whose small high school didn't have sports teams of its own. She was also on the French Congres team and won a scholarship to go to France in a French academics state competition. Her visit to La Rochelle, France, with 20 other international students deepened her interest in French music, and she was also able to make friends from places like Iceland and Turkey. When she ran into the girl from Iceland back in the United States, she was shocked. "It's kind of scary when you realize how small the world is," she said.
When talking about a different trip to France, Echstenkamper blurts out, "I was injured on a D-Day beach." Laughing, she explains herself. "I fell down one of the craters.... So that was my French experience. It made for a good college essay." On that trip, Echstenkamper remembers enjoying "the Frenchness of it all," as she took pleasure in translating for classmates who weren't as interested in the culture around them. "The indifference was mind-blowing. All those kids just didn't even realize what they were missing," she said.
As the list of activities grows longer and longer, Echstenkamper can't seem to say no. "[The Bookworm Project] kind of doesn't seem like it will ever end at this point," she said. While it has been a great deal of work, Echstenkamper doesn't seem to mind--especially when kids tell her she is responsible for their ability to read.
"Lauren has been winning awards in community service for as long as I can remember," said freshman Morgan Gieseke, who participated in a Peer Mentoring program with Echstenkamper in high school. "She's incredibly dedicated and concerned with the well-being of people in general."
What may have started as an impulse to follow her passions has taken Echstenkamper from Sarasota historical sites to the Florida Governor's mansion, France and New York. She was named as a national honoree for the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards in 2002, and, of course, her face and her cause are now emblazoned on the pages of Teen People's April issue.
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