Youth of the month: Lanie Newman

Thirteen-year-old Lanie Newman loves to help others.

"I think it's cool that young people like to help," she said.

Lanie is The Augusta Chronicle's Community Counts Youth of the Month.

Described by her mother, Christie, as strong in her faith and her opinions, Lanie spends time helping at Blythe Baptist Church as an assistant game leader and choir helper for the younger children.

Last summer, when her mother was unable to help with the World Changers group their church played host to, Lanie continued to help serve lunch, asking family members to drive her.

"She's very outgoing and she likes to help," Mrs. Newman said. "She seems to have a passion for the disabled -- she gravitates to them."

Lanie dances with the Foot Loose & Fancy Free Cloggers, a hobby since she was 7.

She likes hunting with her dad, Cal, and shot her first nine-point buck in October.

She's a seventh-grader at C.T. Walker Magnet School and maintains an A/B average. Her teacher, Gayle Dyches, said she's a conscientious student who stays true to herself.

"She follows her own lead and does the right thing," she said.

Lanie says she wants to make good grades so she can get into a good college. She hopes to be a surgeon one day.

"She's been saying that since she was 8," Mrs. Newman said.

Her father had cancer when she was 7, and she wants to help people like his doctors helped him.

Lanie also has another incentive for making good grades: She doesn't want to lose her four-wheeler.