NAME: Flor Suarez

AGE: 15

SCHOOL: Sophomore, Sonoma Valley High School

GREAT DEED: Suarez rallied other high school students, to film, direct, and produce a documentary about the thoughts of local high school students. She plans to ship it to kids in Tanzania and enter it in film festivals.

KEY TO AWESOMENESS: Suarez used to be shy and afraid to "put herself out there," she says. But after joining the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance, and attending a meeting of Sonoma Big Ideas with her mentor, all that changed.

"I saw that you can actually but yourself out there and do stuff, and that it's challenging, but not too hard," said Suarez.

That's when she got her "big idea." The gist of it: a film, directed for kids in Tanzania, about what kids in America think of today's world.

With a little help from the Big Ideas crew (they hooked her up with a professional documentary filmmaker) the artsy teen hosted her first production meeting in January.

In addition to her studies of film and video production, Suarez's activity roster reads like a busy social calendar: she's active in Keystone, she works with a nutrition group, she's a member of College Bound, and she's learning electric guitar ("Well, trying to," she says).

"She sets her goals and she follows through and she’s an amazing artist and takes advantage of all the opportunities through the Mentoring Alliance," said Mentoring Alliance Program Director Tina Baldry.  "It’s been a pleasure seeing Flor grow and mature into a dynamic young woman."

Editor's note: To find out more about the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance, check out their Thursday evening recruitment event.