Youth will serve

One great idea that schools have of late is this concept of a senior project, where, before being handed a diploma, a student has to accomplish something meaningful.

Here in Baltimore County, MD, a student must complete (1) Seventy-five hours of student service that includes preparation, action, and reflection components and that, at the discretion of the local school system, may begin during the middle grades; or (2) A locally-designed program in student service that has been approved by the State Superintendent of Schools.

(Hint to anyone seeking hours: join a volunteer fire company.)

I'm sure students and teachers alike understand that doing this sort of thing is much more valuable than writing an essay on the causes of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC).

For example, how about this young man named Hunter Wart? (With a name like that, he should go into radio. He'd be a natural!)

But here's what he did for his senior project:

Hunter Wart

Hunter spent more than a year fundraising - cutting grass and hauling in scrap metal  - and he came up with $10,000, with which he bought a Safe Haven Baby Box for the Seymour, Indiana, Fire Department. These boxes are meant to provide a place for babies of parents in distress to shelter the child. When the door is opened to provide access to the little haven, an alarm notifies firefighters.

"It was a lot of hard work," his mom Julia Kwasniewski said on CNN. "A lot of blood, sweat and tears."

The hard work paid off last June, when he proudly oversaw the installation of the box at the fire department. Such boxes are meant to prevent abandonment of newborns.

Then, last week, the alarm went off, firefighters checked it, and found a healthy baby girl inside - only an hour old, says Fire Chief Brad Lucas.

"We are ecstatic that the system was used," Lucas told CNN. "It worked perfect, exactly how it was designed to work."

Lucas's people provided care and took her to a hospital by ambulance. Once the baby is released, she will in the custody of state child services workers, and, at Hunter's request, she will be called "Baby Mia."

A Safe Haven Baby Box

Safe Haven Baby Boxes has now installed 24 of their units in several states. They are a nonprofit organization founded by Monica Kelsey, who was herself abandoned as an infant.

Kelsey said that around two to three abandoned babies died annually in Indiana before she started her lifesaving crusade, and not one has perished since.

As for young Mr Wart, he says, "I'm hopeful that one day she will see the story of how she was safely surrendered in the Safe Haven Baby Box I raised the money for...and search online for me."

And now, he is starting a new campaign to buy another box for his city.