About Marissa:

Born March 20, 1990. Daughter of Michael and Nancy Caruso, of Monee. Sister to Michael and Matthew. Granddaughter of Jean Thompson, of Crete, and Marge Milano, of Chicago. Member of St. Laborius Church in Steger.

Accomplishments: Marissa Caruso is a senior at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights. She's distinguished herself academically by earning a 4.0 grade point average and is taking Advanced Placement psychology, calculus, biology and English along with Latin IV honors. Caruso is a member of National Honor Society, Latin National Honor Society and active in Student Council as senior class secretary. She is a teacher aid for Campus Ministry and attended Kairos retreat twice, the second time as a leader. Caruso is involved in Psychology Club and will be in the Mother's Club fashion show next month. She is active in recruitment and Appalacia; she spent a week in Kentucky helping build homes last summer. Caruso is named in Who's Who Among American High School Students. She works at Eastern Will County Senior Services and will likely attend Marquette University next year to major in communications.

Personal hero: "My older brothers. They've taught me a lot, how to work hard. I have a really good relationship with them. I consider them more my best friends than my brothers."

What I read: "Anything by Kurt Vonnegut."

What I do for fun: "I like to workout a lot to relax and travel when I get the chance."

People might be surprised to know: "When we were in Puerto Rico I went kayaking in the middle of the night to Luminist Bay."

- SUE BERO, Times Correspondent

To nominate someone for this feature, e-mail slbero@hotmail.com.