Whiz Kid Raises $800 for Medical Research

Hannah Moreno

• Age: 12
• School: Birmingham Covington
• Achievement: The seventh-grader is actively raising money for medical research into a condition — Fragile X Syndrome — that causes inherited autism. She learned about the condition while researching charitable causes. This summer, with help from her mother Irene, she placed donation flyers at seven Hiller's Market stores and spent three hours at each site collecting contributions.
  The high-impact effort, which fills a community service requirement at school, raised more than $800. Hannah created a poster about her project for a hallway display at school. The crusade continues with door-to-door solicitations in her Bloomfield Hills neighborhood.
• Key to Awesomeness: "Hannah is planning a year-long campaign of raising money," says Laureen Majeske of Sterling Heights, president of this region's National Fragile X Foundation chapter. "She's a lovely, intelligent little girl, far more mature than her 11 years."
  The outgoing, poised student has athletic and musical skills. She plays tennis often, competes in local tournaments and is a cellist who spent 11 days this summer at Blue Lake Fine Arts camp in Twin Lake, Mich., on a merit scholarship. She'll represent her school at a three-day National Young Leaders State Conference in Ypsilanti next March.