A resident of Alameda, CA (near Berkeley), Earl climbs rocks, wrestles, throws the discus and the shot put. But that's not all...he writes harmony and guitar leads for his dad's songs, plays one of the leads in Encinal H.S.'s production of "Kiss Me Kate" and teaches classes about disabilities.

Blinded by a collision with a drunk driver before he was one-year old, Earl isn't at all bitter. In fact, teacher Katrina Staten says he has always had "this earnest, honest and interesting approach" to life. She describes Earl as a "beautifully whole human being," full of "poise, grace and charity."

Earl, himself, thinks his blindness is a gift that's only made him stronger. In fact, he says, a big part of his "view" of life is the attitude he carries into things. "Challenges make me work hard," he says.

And, for us, the way Earl Rivard III lives his life should be a reminder that there is no lack or disability that can't be used to make ourselves and the world a little better and brighter.

This bright-eyed, smiling 7-year-old, we'll always picture with her flight jacket and baseball cap, was raised on the peace ideals of Mahatma Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luther King. But, most of all, what Jessica believed was that all of us, kids and adults, can aspire to be anything we can dream of being.

That's a real lesson she reminded us of. As Jessica left us, smiling, she had reached her dream, even if she didn't make it to the East Coast.

Let's believe that Jessica herself is soaring even higher now, in serene weather.

And let's let her smiling face remain us that all kids, while keeping safe, should be nurtured to fly as high as their dreams will take them.

YOUTH AND CHILDREN RESOURCE NET wants to feature and spread the word about all the really good kids and teens there are-especially those who have done something really cool to help other kids or are trying to make a difference in America or in the world.

We'll be publishing some great stories for you to read in a month or two. But we need YOUR help to do it.

Send us an email or snailmail with the name of the young person you want us to feature, their age, school, city, state or country. It can be someone you know or someone you have an article about. Be sure to let us know YOUR name and email address. Tell us in 100 words or less what good things the kid or teen you're writing about has done.

If it sounds good, we'll contact you for more information and a photo if one is available.

All our KIDZ IN THE NEWZ will get a prize of a book, CD, CD-Rom or other thank you from us for what they've done. And they'll be featured here for the whole Internet Web world to read about.

So nominate a young person for us to write about and be sure to bookmark this page and check back in a few weeks for our first stories of really great kids that are making a difference for everybody!