Hathaway Brown senior Ellie Kuivila is one of 10 student finalists in the annual Searching for Teen Leaders competition sponsored by Project Love. Kuivila was selected by a panel of her peers to vie for $2,500 scholarship by writing an essay about leadership and what it means.

An accomplished figure skater, Kuivila founded "Skaters for Haiti" after the 2009 earthquake in that country. For several months, she collected donations in bins she set up at local skating rinks and she even organized a benefit show to raise funds. Last year, she and several members of her church traveled to Haiti to deliver the items. She has continued the program since then and she hopes to return to Haiti in the near future. In November, Kuivila will be panelist at the International Haiti Conference in Jamaica, where she will discuss her efforts to improve water quality in Haiti.

Project Love is nonprofit character-building education and training organization. Its aim is to empower teens to create a culture of kindness, caring, and respect. The Teen Leader scholarship winner will be announced on October 17.

Read more in the Sunday, September 18 issue of The Plain Dealer.