While many students were sunning themselves at the shore, Annina Burns spent this spring break following her heart and doing what she loves to do — teaching local youth about the value of good nutrition.

Burns (junior-nutrition and media studies) continued her work with the Nutrition Service Project, which she founded in the fall of 1998, her freshman year. NSP is an educational media project with the goal of teaching local children the importance of nutrition and good health. Burns and fellow Penn State volunteers took the project to a rural Pennsylvania town during break.

"There is no organization at Penn State that teaches kids about nutrition," Burns said. This is Burns' third year leading the spring break project, which aided more than 200 students, ages 5 to 18, in the community.

"If you want to make any sort of change you need to start with children," she said.

Presently, the organization has contributed more than 2,600 hours of service and reached about 250 Pennsylvanian kids.

Burns brought 10 Penn State volunteers, who trained for nearly a year, along with her on this year's spring break. To prepare, the volunteers completed a child nutrition health-training program in the fall and chose their own topics to teach during the break.

Burns said it is important to the learning process to have the children working in a personal setting with the volunteer. "Pairing makes it fun, and interaction makes it real," she said.

Burns' topic for the break was "How to Navigate through Health Information in the Media World." She told the youth how to define what is a reliable source and showed them how to depict what is true and what is not.

Burns' efforts have earned her national attention. Burns was one of 20 college students selected from 682 nominees to be on the national 2001 All-USA College Academic First Team. She is the first Penn State student to earn the position. USA Today awarded her $2,500 for her NSP work.

Susan Kennedy, University Health Services associate director of educational services, knows Burns from her participation in the executive intern program of student affairs. Kennedy was Burns' mentor for the first spring break project and helped in the early development of the project.

"I am impressed with the program, and I am impressed with Annina," Kennedy said. "She is committed to service and pushing the boundaries from what she has learned."

From meeting with the volunteers before break, Kennedy said the students also are tremendous role models.

"These college students are looking to apply what they learn in college, and I think it is excellent," Kennedy said.

Burns could be a role model for many college students. In addition to her project work, she is a Schreyer Honors Scholar on a Bunton-Waller Fellows scholarship and a trustee on the National 4-H Council Board. Time magazine recognized her for Y-Not, a student volunteer organization Burns founded in high school that works with homeless children, and also for her initiation of the NSP.

Burns, however, confessed that as rewarding as her spring break experiences are, it would have been nice to sit and relax on the beach.