FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE N.R. #205, 5/5/98

Date: May 5, 1998

Contact: Irene Cromer

703/791-8720

STUDENT EARNS HORATIO ALGER AWARD

Lynn M. Leitch, a junior at Potomac High School, is one of only two students in the state of Virginia to be awarded the Horatio Alger-Louis Feinstein Enriching America Award and the accompanying $2,000 U.S. Savings Bond. This award was established by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans to recognize outstanding high school sophomores and juniors who have committed themselves to making a difference in the lives of others. The award is designed to encourage those who exemplify the values of caring, compassion and brotherhood and to instill a lifelong commitment to helping others regardless of race, creed or color.

The Enriching America Awards were initiated by Alan Shawn Feinstein in honor of his late father Louis Feinstein, a Boston attorney.

"The Enriching America Awards, Feinstein says, "honor those young men and women who make a major difference in the life of others -- to recognize their outstanding achievements and to hold them up as role models for others to emulate."

Award recipients have initiated a community service project on their own or have demonstrated outstanding leadership in a group or existing project. Lynn's project, raising $5,000 to benefit the Civitan International Research Center, is being conducted as part of her work with the Junior Civitans. Lynn is serving this year as Governor of the Chesapeake District of the Junior Civitans, a service organization for youth that emphasizes good citizenship, leadership development, and aiding mentally and physically handicapped people. Among Lynn's money making activities are babysitting, candy sales and a yard sale. She says that she

has been influenced to raise money for the Research Center because of its efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's Disease. "My grandfather has this [disease]," Lynn says, "and I would like to help prevent anyone else from getting it. It has been really hard to watch what has happened to my family and to my grandmother over the last seven years."

In addition to her volunteer activities this year, Lynn completed a total of 272 volunteer hours during tenth grade and 195 hours during ninth grade on projects that included, among others, tutoring, the Association for Retarded Citizens Bowling Program, grounds cleaning and office work at the Quantico National Cemetery, and Special Olympics. In addition to a number of awards from the Junior Civitans, Lynn has received a Teen Service Award and a Certificate for Outstanding Service from the Association for Retarded Citizens and was a finalist for the J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award.

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