The student: Kriti Gandhi, 13

School: Burleigh Manor Middle

Special achievement: Kriti placed second in the Stein Roe Young Investor Essay Contest, sponsored by Stein Roe Mutual Funds. She wrote an essay on what she had learned about money and investing. Her essay was selected from more than 1,250 submitted by seventh- and eighth-graders nationwide.

What she said in the essay: "Basically, I said that you should learn about it from early on in life and that you should start early, you should diversify and you should invest maybe in a mutual fund if you don't know much," Kriti said. She has money invested in stocks and a mutual fund, and she keeps track of how the money is doing.

Some other achievements: Kriti won first place for an outstanding mathematical achievement at the 47th Baltimore Science Fair in March. Her project was about game theory. "I was seeing how fair children were," she said. "I found out that children are very fair, and this kind of disproves game theory."

Other interests: "I like writing and reading. I enjoy geography as well," she said. She also likes to play computer games and ride her bicycle.