[Focus: high school kids]

Teens pay attention when I ask them what they care about. As author of It’s Up to Us, a handbook for teens, I use an easy tone and style, and plenty of dramatic stories, to show students that nothing is more important than living a meaningful life, and that the surest path to that meaning is service. “You can find thousands of ways to make a difference,” I tell them, as I offer practical tools for the search. “Find the ones that excite you and go for them with everything you’ve got.”