Pubdate: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2007 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Author: C. Ron Allen Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) HER DEDICATION DRAWS NOTICE Eighth-Grader Takes A Lead In Student Outreach Programs CORAL SPRINGS - When Natasha Khan isn't in class, chances are she's promoting acts of kindness, raising money for research or encouraging other students to avoid drugs. "I like helping children," said Khan, 13, an eighth-grader at Ramblewood Middle School. The teen's dedication to humanitarian efforts is comparable to that of an adult's, her teachers said. As president of three student-based organizations, she is responsible for all the community service projects at the school. Khan often makes posters, decorates bulletin boards to promote campaigns or events and works behind the scenes, school officials said. "She gives of herself for the sole purpose of making others who are less fortunate better," said Robbin Chamoff, peer center coordinator at Ramblewood Middle School. "She gives hours and hours of her after-school time, of her morning hours, of anytime she has a spare moment ... to make another child's life better." Under her leadership as president of Crime Watch, the Human Relations Council and the Just Say No clubs, students raise money to support the University of Miami's Linda Ray Intervention Center, a research preschool for Miami babies whose mothers used cocaine during pregnancy. "These children don't have parents. The state is their parents," Khan said. The students also make greeting cards in memory of military personnel and law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty. The students sell the cards for $1 and give the money to the Intervention Center. The same 15 students make up all three groups and each week they meet as a different body. The Just Say No club decorated a bulletin board with posters and other material to urge students to avoid using drugs. "We help kids realize that the drug way is not the way to go ... that they shouldn't do drugs," said Khan, who was recently honored as a South Florida Sun-Sentinel Kid of Character for responsibility in the program that recognizes students who best exemplify the Broward County School District's character education traits. "She deserves it," Hina Khan said of her daughter. "She is very hardworking and she never gets tired." She carries such caring and compassion to her home, Hina Khan said. When her daughter was in kindergarten, she took extra lunch for friends who didn't have lunch, Khan said. This is one in a series of stories on students who best exemplify the Broward County School District's eight character education traits -- cooperation, responsibility, citizenship, kindness, respect, honesty, self-control and tolerance -- and patriotism as part of all eight. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman