Marco - United States

Our Marco's both ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. He has regular mousy brown hair, and is of average height and weight. He's a smart boy, but not the smartest; well liked, but not by everybody, particularly Bart and his friends.

Therefore you might ask, what is there that is so special about Marco? Well, he earned over half a million dollars trading stocks and commodities on the Internet and saved a village in Africa. Not bad for a twelve year old.


Marco: In His Own Words

"Yup, I made over a half a million dollars trading stocks and commodities on the Internet. All the kids thought I was amaaaazing. I've got to admit it. It did feel sort of amazing; only my folks weren't that thrilled. I guess it was the part where I did it without asking for their permission. Dad was particularly mad that I used his account.

"I know that it was actually a bad move, but the brokerage house-- you know the people that take all the stock market orders-- had sent me a letter, begging me to trade with them. Above all, I think my dad was annoyed that I knew his password and pin number. Darn, he and Mom use the same ones for everything. Why I think even the mailman must know!

"This trading stuff, though, sounded like a cool idea at first. Sometime I get these thoughts, and they can get me into trouble. Like when I was little, around eight. I saw this dog that was digging a big hole in a corner of my backyard. Looked like he was headed to China! Yeah, you can get to China just digging through the center of the earth, theoretically though, not for real. Well, I organized the neighborhood kids and ….you want to know all about it? Just ask me. I'll post the story, "A Big Dig." The point is, I wound up in trouble. So, from now on I'm going to try to use my own 'North Star,' as Auntie M. would say. That's the inner part of your body that you're supposed to try to sense when you're not sure if what you are about to do is the right thing.

"One point though, I can tell you I'm not sorry about helping Hakim and all those children in Africa that don't have anything. Some of them lost their homes, all their things, even their families--killed. Still, we kids were able to help. I know that deep down my dad was very proud of me.

"We did some really cool things like inventing our own secret code so the thieves couldn't get our supplies from the hospital and then camouflaging the truck with radioactive symbols. Hey, I really liked that one, but I've got to admit, Piper and her friends were incredibly helpful.

"I used to think that when I grew up I'd work somehow with dogs, (I totally love dogs) so maybe I'd be a vet, or I'd be a banker and handle a lot of money. But now I think I'd like to be a world leader 'cause the folks that are doing the job at this time, certainly need some help and Auntie M. always says, 'Marco, you're such a good thinker.'"