WATERVILLE -- Cara Saunders decided when she was 13 that her mission in life was to help those less fortunate.

She said that after reading Angelina Jolie's book, "Notes From My Travels," which details the actress's work with refugees, she was hooked.

"I read that and I said, 'This is what I'm going to do,'" Saunders, now 17, said.

Last year, Saunders searched online for programs that enlist volunteers to help in poor countries. She flew to Africa with a British group and volunteered in Ghana.

"We helped build a school and a library," she said. "We made mud bricks and painted."

It is no surprise that a teenager so self-motivated and with such a world view has been named the Maine winner of a national essay contest sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The Waterville Senior High School junior entered the contest earlier this year, submitting a 1,500-word essay about child soldiers in Uganda.

She received word recently that she had won $1,000 and a chance to go to Washington, D.C., for a week in June to take part in a workshop with governmental officials and others about ways to find peaceful solutions to conflicts.

Her essay, "Wounds Too Deep to Heal: Saving a Generation of Youth in War-Torn Uganda," assumes, according to contest guidelines, that Saunders is the leader of a United Nations task force on youth and conflict.

Her essay describes and analyzes the conflict by examining causes and parties involved, and then presents options for helping to prevent youth from becoming involved in violent groups or for re-integrating them into their communities after a conflict.

Saunders said she took on the essay contest as part of an independent study project with Waterville High teacher Nancy Lamontagne. She researched the Uganda situation on the Internet and in books. Children under 10 in that country are forced to become soldiers and carry and use guns, she said.

Those who know Saunders said they were not surprised she won the contest.

"She's just a great, great kid," said Waterville High Principal Christopher Hollingsworth. "She's a good speaker, and obviously, a good writer and always goes above and beyond."

High School teacher Martha Cobb had Saunders as a student last year in biology.

"She's an excellent student -- a hard-working student," Cobb said. "When I first met her she expressed an interest in wanting to serve in Africa. I had gone to Africa and was telling the kids about it. She said, 'Oh, Ms. Cobb, I want to volunteer in Africa.'"

Saunders is a member of Interact, a high school Rotary Club which raised $350 to send four children to school in Ghana.

She is working with other teens to form an All-Africa Club at the school in an effort to help raise awareness and funds for AIDS, hunger, poverty and women's rights in Africa.

"I think it's important to be aware of what's going on around the world," she said.

A friend and fellow student, Sarah Given, says Saunders is driven to help others and is a perfect example of how one person can help change the world.

"It's her personality," Given said.

Thousands of students entered the essay contest, which required rigorous, in-depth research, according to Lauren Sucher, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Institute of Peace.

"Panels of teachers all over the country volunteered to read these essays," she said.

Saunders hopes to attend Connecticut College and major in international studies after she graduates from high school. She wants to help people -- probably children -- with nutrition needs in refugee camps, and work on AIDS and other issues, she said.

"There's so much you can do in relief work and development," she said.

An only child, Saunders lives in Waterville with her mother, Sharon, a librarian at Bates College, and her father, Steven, a music theory and history professor at Colby College.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com