Earlier this year, Marquell Cooper, an eighth-grade student at Washington Jesuit Academy in Washington, D.C., was named the 2007-2008 Bank of America Young Hero of the Year for City Year. He was selected as the winner out of more than 15 Young Hero submissions from across the country, and was publicly honored with the Young Hero of the Year award at City Year's national conference in Boston this summer.

As a member of City Year Washington, DC's Young Heroes program, Marquell and his fellow Young Heroes meet once a week to discuss and learn about a different social justice topic (e.g. poverty, violence, the environment), and then perform community service projects to help combat the issue studied.

During his two years as a Young Hero, Marquell has gone above and beyond the basic responsibilities of the program -- he is rarely absent and puts in extra time to come to special events and volunteer for other programs, including Camp City Year. He has accumulated more than 300 hours of service in his two years with the program, when most participants get between 80 and 100 per year.

Outside of Young Heroes, Marquell is active in sports. He's on his school's basketball and football teams, and also participates in recreation and summer leagues. He has received numerous awards and honors for his performance on these teams.

Note: Joining Marquell in his interview is Stefanie Vestal, the program manager for City Year DC's Young Heroes Program.

Could you briefly describe City Year and the Young Heroes program for those unfamiliar with the organization and its work?

STEFANIE: City Year is a nonprofit AmeriCorps organization that was founded in Boston, and it has spread to a total of 18 sites in the United States and one in South Africa. We engage 17- to 24-year-olds in a year of full time national service. They do things like run the Young Heroes program, tutor kids, and engage in the community in large-scale sorts of projects.

MARQUELL: In Young Heroes, we meet every Saturday, and we have a discussion in the morning. And in the evening, we will go out and do something about what we discussed, like trash cleanup or painting, and sometimes we will have an all-day project where we are at a school or recreation center or wherever.

So, Marquell, how did you get involved in City Year?

MARQUELL: I got involved with my cousin Aimmee who was in the program for three years before I joined, and she told me that it would be very fun. And after my first year, I was enjoying it, so I came back for two more years.

And what did she tell you about it that sounded interesting to you?

MARQUELL: She was talking about the service and how much she learned, and I decided I wanted to go. Plus, I didn't have anything to do on Saturday but play basketball.

What about your background?  Had you volunteered at all before? You said your cousin did it. Is it something that's part of a family tradition -- the idea of giving back to your community?

MARQUELL: Well, before I started at City Year, I wasn't really into giving back to the community. All I was into was playing basketball and football.

So what was it that you enjoyed and made you want to stick around and get more involved as time went on?

MARQUELL: As my first year went on, I didn't like it at first. But then I just kept on coming back, and it got fun from having the feeling of making the world better and making our community better for me and other kids and their parents. I started to learn why I went, why we were doing little lessons in the morning and then going to paint in the evening. And then I thought, "Wow, I'm doing a very good thing for the community and for the world." So I just kept coming back.

So a big part of it for you was getting to see the impact of what you were doing? You do something in the community and then see people benefit from it.

MARQUELL: Yes, that's one of the reasons.

STEFANIE: Actually, the Young Heroes keep handbooks and journals, and we keep some of them over the years. Marquell's from his first year is one of the ones we kept, and I was looking through it to give some quotes to our headquarters, and I noticed at the end of his journal, in his sixth-grade year, an entry about one of the later sessions.

They were doing a neighborhood cleanup in an African-American community in Northeast D.C., and he wrote in his journal how he was cleaning up trash with his team leader Owen, and a guy walked by and said, "Hey, thanks for making my community better."

And Marquell wrote that that made him realize he was making a difference, and that what he was doing not only was a service, but it also was fun. And his team leader had a big impact on him and told him to never give up, always keep working to help other people out because you really are making a difference.

So that was a good entry in his journal near the end of the year. It kind of showed the course of what Marquell achieved over the six-month program. At the beginning he was like, "Whatever. I don't have anything else better to do on Saturday, and I'll come because my cousin said to come, and I don't really have a good time." But at the end of the year, he said, "There's a larger reason for why I'm doing this."

So, Marquell, do you have any brothers and sisters or other relatives or friends that you've now helped recruit or told about City Year?

MARQUELL:  My cousin, Zeke. My cousin Aimmee and I were telling him about it, and he joined in my second year. And now he's coming back again for his second year. And my friend Brandon -- he had to stop to play soccer, but he really liked it.

Are there any particular activities or things you've done since you've joined the program that you've really liked or you feel that you've learned a lot from?

MARQUELL: When we went to a nursing home, and we were talking to the elderly. It was really fun because we got to hear their stories and listen to them, what they have to say. And seeing the smiles on their faces when we were done talking to them. It made me feel good.

So you're in eighth grade now. How many years can you be in City Year? Is there a cut-off point?

STEFANIE: There's kind of a graduated level. We work in elementary schools, and we run after school programs and kind of get kids familiar with City Year. And then in middle school, they're allowed to join the Young Heroes program. Sixth-, seventh-, and eighth- grade students can join Young Heroes.

When they go to high school, they can join the City Heroes program. We're actually starting the program this year for the first time in D.C. So ninth through twelfth grade students can join City Heroes. The idea is that kids will get interested in service at a young age through Young Heroes and City Heroes, and then either go to school and come to City Year as a corps member or do City Year as a corps member and then go on to college. It's called the "Youth Continuum" in City Year.

So, essentially, you can be in City Year for the better part of your school career, depending on where you go to school. But for Young Heroes and City Heroes, we don't have to be working at your school. We have students from more than 50 schools in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia who do Young Heroes -- public, private, charter school, it doesn't matter.

Well, what do you think, Marquell? Are you planning on sticking around when you get to high school?

MARQUELL: Yeah, I'm planning on sticking around. And then when I get out of high school, it depends on how I feel about going to college or staying here and then going to college.

So, why do you think some young people get involved in helping others or working in their community and some don't?

MARQUELL: I think it depends on what kind of influence you have. Some people don't have any role models as they're going through life. And I think the people that are doing good, they have a lot of people surrounding them and supporting them in doing things.

Tell us a bit about the Young Hero of the Year Award. How did you get considered for that?

STEFANIE: It was incredibly competitive. Every site picks two or three local Young Heroes of the Year. And then all of the Young Heroes of the Year at local sites get sent to headquarters as submissions. And Marquell had to write an essay and what we call a "Starfish Story."

MARQUELL: Yeah. A Starfish Story is a way of describing in some shape or fashion how you changed your community and the world. And what I wrote about was when my school went to the local YMCA and we helped mentally challenged kids play basketball, football, and volleyball. It was really fun because I got to teach people my same age, and we weren't treating them like they were disabled. And afterwards one of the guys came up to me and really thanked me for helping him because nobody else would.

So you went to Boston for City Year's annual convention and accepted your award in front of 2,000 people. That must have been a pretty great feeling. Has that kind of recognition contributed to you wanting to keep helping and volunteering?

MARQUELL: Yes. And even though I know I most likely won't attend next year's convention, I'm going to keep trying and keep on giving my all.