Making a second language a first priority

Sure, she's only 17 and stands a mere 5 feet 5 inches, but just try to stop this Harvard-Westlake senior from doing what she sets out to do.

She won an award for top overall achievement by a junior at her school last year, was the president of her class and is now co-president of the student body. She writes, acts, sings and studies French, Spanish and Chinese at high levels. She also fences and is, naturally, co-captain of the team. But what truly sets her apart from the many high-achieving students at her school is her deep dedication to community service.

"I've gotten so much out of it," says Ellie, who was also named the top community service performer in her class last year. "I've been touched by so many people who want to help. I'm really grateful. The world is really kind."

Earlier this month, Ellie won the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, a national award for teens who have made lasting contributions to their communities. She was honored for creating RepeatAfterUs.com, a free website that matches respected English texts with sound files so that people learning the language around the world can hear it spoken as they read along. The site has had more than 89,000 hits, with around 2,500 a day in a recent observation.

RepeatAfterUs.com includes thousands of famous speeches, poems and literary excerpts that are copyright-free. Sources include William Shakespeare, Sojourner Truth, John F. Kennedy and many others. The voices on the site come from more than a hundred volunteers and spur-of-the-moment recruits.

Jan Stewart, the school's director of community services who nominated Ellie, says she was afraid the project might become just another celebrity list, but instead Ellie surprised her with "her willingness to invite everyone [to read for the site], even if they're not superbly skilled. Ellie said, 'Sometimes the imperfection is what resonates most with the students.' "

Nevertheless, Ellie admits, "I always bring my recorder with me, just in case I run into Brad Pitt."

The idea for the site came to Ellie while she was volunteering at a Los Angeles community center called Las Familias del Pueblo, where she runs a poetry workshop and tutorial program for immigrant children. She was struck by how the students in one of the center's English as a Second Language classes struggled with the pronunciation of simple words.