SIKESTON TEEN HONORED FOR SERVICE

SIKESTON -- For as long as she can remember she has wanted to help the community be the best it can be. Community service, she says, should start as a child.

Laura Jennings believes in helping others, explaining that not only does it give a good feeling, it's just the right thing to do.

"Service in the community is very important in order to be a good citizen and to be able to give back. I think Scouts helps start that desire to be active in the community, then we're more apt to do it when we get older," Jennings said.

It's for that kind of thinking Jennings was selected as one of 15 seniors from public high schools throughout Missouri to be honored for outstanding citizenship and leadership in their communities. The students were formally honored during a luncheon at the Governor's Mansion.

Each public high school in Missouri is eligible to nominate one senior for the annual award. Selection is based on the student's good citizenship, leadership in his or her school or school-related organizations, participation in volunteer or community service activities and the student's academic records.

The daughter of Dan and Dianne Jennings has been the recipient of at least 42 different honors since ninth grade. Among them, the Missouri Award for Outstanding Achievement in Citizenship, Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals Top 100 Scholars and the Xerox Humanities Award.

Jennings graduated Tuesday from Sikeston Senior High

"I think young people are becoming more and more involved in community awareness as well as in church and I think they need to be," Jennings said. "I think one of the more important community service projects I've done is go to the work camps through church and actually meet the people I'm helping. Some of the people had never had anyone help them in their lives. It was an eye-opening experience, it made me realize how lucky I am."