When it comes to making a difference, 13-year-old Shayla is at the top of her game. Whether she's founding an organization to improve girls' self-esteem or collecting soccer balls for a camp in Africa, Shayla is motivated to improve the world around her.

Her organization A Step Towards Self-Esteem encourages young girls in her North Carolina community to feel good about themselves and to become inspirational role models. Shayla has worked hard to spread her positive self-esteem message by giving presentations to the Boys and Girls Club of America, the Salvation Army, and Explore!, a program devoted to enriching students' lives through music, arts and dance.

Having already volunteered 500 hours at a variety of organizations, Shayla has set a goal to volunteer a total of 1000 hours within the next two years. Along with her volunteering work, Shayla has also founded another organization called Klothes for Kids that distributes new or gently used clothing to needy children. So far she has boxed over 50 articles of clothing and shipped them to an orphanage in the Republic of Zambia in Africa. She plans to send the next box to an orphanage in Romania.

While Shayla has given a lot of her self to a variety of causes, one of her proudest achievements has been through her work with Compassion International. Through that organization she helped raise sponsors for over 130 children throughout Asia and Africa.

Despite multiple volunteering activities and her two organizations, Shayla has maintained a 4.0 grade point average. A motivated student, she's set high goals for herself - and we have no doubt she'll achieve them.