Lauren Prince 
Age: 19
Hometown: Potomac, Maryland
Project: Chennai Tsunami Relief

The destruction wrought by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami moved thousands to action, and 16-year-old Lauren Prince was no exception. In the first days after the tsunami, Lauren set an ambitious goal to raise $11,000 through her high school to help re-build a fishing village in Chennai, India.

Lauren put posters around school and organized assemblies to get her community behind the effort. What started as an idea between the Prince family and a friend in India spread rapidly to Lauren's school, local churches and then the whole community. In the first week, her efforts doubled her original goal, and within one month surpassed $100,000.

As a result of the surge in funds, money was spread among ten Kuppams, or fishing villages, instead of just one. The money went to repairing boats, replacing lost school supplies, and establishing a micro-loan program to improve the livelihoods of local women, which is still active today.

Following the fundraising effort, Lauren and a small group of students and adults traveled to India to visit the affected areas. Upon returning home, Lauren shared the results of the community's fundraising efforts through a slide-show assembly.

"The tsunami changed me permanently," says Lauren, "It proved to me that even limited funds can create sustainable differences and self-sufficiency in a community oppressed by poverty."

Lauren has stayed dedicated to creating solutions to extreme poverty after the Chennai project ended. She has been working as a photographer with her mom, and has recently traveled to Africa to photograph the positive effects of parent involvement in micro-loan programs in Kenya and Uganda.

A former NetAid Global Citizen Corps leader, Lauren is currently studying International Relations and Journalism at Boston University and interning on Capitol Hill with the Foreign Relations committee. Lauren’s dedication to alleviating global poverty shows no sign of letting up.