Christine Start, James Logan High School graduate

After a long, contentious battle with California State Sen. Liz Figueroa over anti-telemarketing legislation last year, wireless carrier lobbyists never would have been able to persuade her to back a carrier-friendly bill this year. But they didn't have to. That work was done free of charge by teenagers at James Logan High School in Union City, Calif., a mid-sized Bay area town in Figueroa's district.

Led by Class of 2002 President Christine Start, the students lobbied hard to pass SB 1253, which in January will repeal a ban of cell phones from public schools. “It just didn't seem right for students to get in trouble for having something that's pretty much necessary,” said Start, whose mother gave her a cell phone to coordinate rides home after school.

Start said the school's principal gave them the idea. “He was like, ‘Yeah, you know how cell phones aren't allowed at school?’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, that sucks.’ And he was like, ‘Do you guys want to do something about that?’ And we were like, ‘Yeah.’”

After convincing Figueroa to help them write the bill, Logan High students worked for months to bring other senators and school districts on board, finally testifying before the California State Senate Education Committee in Sacramento — all without so much as a thank-you fruit basket from the likes of Cingular or Sprint PCS.

“I think [carriers] did the right thing,” Figueroa said. “If they'd been supportive, it would have appeared very self-serving.” Because the bill was driven by a grass-roots campaign, the result was “an excellent promotion for the family [calling] plan,” she said.

Start, now a freshman at the University of California-Berkeley, hasn't picked a major yet, but she was like, “Business is something I'm thinking about.” —Ed Gubbins