Fourth in a series

Volunteer work continues for Young Achiever

Last spring, Ben Levinson won a Gateway 2002 Young Achiever of the Year award for his strong volunteer efforts and top scholarship. He continued both of those this summer.

He was back at work as a volunteer in the University City Library's summer reading program. Then, during August, he volunteered in the University City East organization's summer day school at All Saint Church. He worked every day playing with the kids and then cleaning up after the sessions were over.

He also served as a softball umpire for 2nd and 3rd grade teams playing in the University City summer program.

This summer was his third as a reading volunteer. He was one of the youngest to qualify as a full-fledged volunteer. "I plan to do that a few more years," Ben added.

The 14-year-old said, "I like helping people and animals. I like seeing their reaction to what I have done."

Levinson now is a freshman at University City High. He used the summer also to go over past school work. "You tend to forget the previous year during the summer," he said.

He was trying to get a head start on classwork he expects this fall.

"I've had straight As all my life," he said. All his freshman coursework will be in honors classes.

"I think I'm ready," he said. He paid particular attention to math. "I think I've got everything I'm going to need as a freshman," Ben added.

He said he expects his toughest class to be language arts, especially the writing assignments.

Ben's also got some of his fall volunteering assignments lined up.

He'll be back as a computer volunteer at the UC Library. He is on hand to help kids use computers for their homework assignments "if they don't have one at home to use." Much of the help is in using search engines and on-line encyclopedias to find material.

Ben's also on the lookout for other volunteer opportunities. "Other things will come up during the year in high school," he said.

His all-around lifestyle earned him one of 12 Gateway 2002 Young Achiever of the Year awards. He was an eighth grader at Brittany Woods Middle School in the 2001-2002 year.

(Young Saint Louis.com is profiling the elementary and middle school winners. To read the May, 2002, announcement story, click here. For the June, 2002, profile, click here; and the July, 2002, profile, click here, and for August, 2002, click here. The other four profiles will be in future issues.)

Ben's Achiever application outlined other community work such as volunteering in animal and homeless shelters. He also worked in a soup kitchen and was on a crew from his temple that winterized homes of low-income families.

Among his extra-curricular activities at school are sports. "I've played soccer my whole life," Ben said. He's planning to try out for the UC High soccer team. This summer, he worked out with high school kids to be prepared for the higher level of competition.

He likes to play chess but hasn't entered competitions. "I do have a computer program where you can set the experience level almost all the way to masters," he said.

He also has a keyboard at home where he is teaching himself how to play the piano.

Concerning his future plans, Ben would like to earn a scholarship to attend college. About his career, he said, "I'd probably like to do something with computers. I don't know exactly what; maybe in programming or new technology."

Ben is the son of Frank and Deborah Levinson. He has two younger brothers, Charlie, 13, and Zachary, 11. He's lived all his life in University City.

He got recognition of his Achiever of the Year award during an honors assembly at the end of the last school year at Brittany Woods.