Moudgil, 24, a 2000 University of Michigan graduate, is a fixture in local classrooms, pairing U-M students and elementary school students as pen pals and buddies, visiting schools and organizing a massive campus volunteer force whose members work as mentors and tutors.

Last month, Moudgil, founder and president of K-grams (a shortened form of Kids Programs), received the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's Grand Angel Award for volunteer work that benefits children. He won the $5,000 top award from among 88 nominations.

"I never expected to be honored this way," he said. "This donation will help support our plans to continue and to expand our program. My dream is to expand K-grams and have chapters at colleges and universities throughout the U.S."

Currently, 2,000 U-M volunteers, mostly from residence halls, work with 1,300 elementary students in 55 classrooms at 10 elementary schools in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Detroit.

Every other week, paired college students and elementary pupils exchange letters, trading introductions and pleasantries and seeking and offering

Rishi Moudgil
Age:	24
Residence:	Ann Arbor
Education:	Bachelor's degree in business administration, University of Michigan, 2000.
Occupation:	Program coordinator, consultant at U-M (president of K-grams Inc.).
Honors:	Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Grand Angel Award, 2002; HEAD Tour National Outstanding Citizen Award, 2001; U-M Student Legacy Award, 2000; U-M Outstanding Student Leader, 1999.
Aspirations:	To provide opportunities for young people to make contributions to society; to create nurturing and supportive programs for children.
Hobbies:	Tennis, ultimate Frisbee, trumpet, Web design, dance, art and production, word game Boggle.
Role model:	"All of my inspiring kids."
No. of kids met this year:	1,347 (at least!)
Pet peeves:	Accepting the status quo; not challenging yourself; those who don't appreciate the privilege of living in a great community like Ann Arbor.
Last book read:	"Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets."
Last great meal:	"A conglomerate of delicious authentic Indian, Mexican and American foods at my sister's over Thanksgiving in L.A."
What you do to relax:	"Sleep is a rare commodity I often value when available, but I also enjoy listening to music while driving and writing."

advice. It's a relationship that culminates in a face-to-face encounter in a classroom visit or at a K-grams Kids Fair on the U-M campus, this year scheduled for March 21 at Crisler Arena.

Moudgil launched K-grams in the summer of 1998, while he was serving as president of Circle K, a community service club. Moudgil, then a junior in business school, thought an on-going relationship between university students and school children could benefit both groups.

Pete Larson, a fifth-grade teacher at Carpenter, likes the program because his students learn to write for a specific reader and purpose.

"It gives the kids an opportunity to have an audience for their writing, not as a class assignment," Larson said.

"It kind of gives the kids here an idea what college is like," he added. "Letters written back and forth, talking about exams, classes, different things. Kids really like the interaction when their pen pals come to visit the classroom."

Tamico Taliaferro, 10, has had U-M pen pals for four years. "I like it because I was writing to somebody," said the Carpenter fifth-grader. "We say what we like. I like basketball. We describe what we look like," she said, adding that she is looking forward to meeting her current pen pal.

Another fifth-grader, Ionatan Mazza, 10, found he and his correspondent have a common interest - the Red Wings. "We write back and forth," he said. "Sometimes I ask him if the Red Wings won if I didn't watch the game. He writes about college life. It's tiring, but he enjoys it. I can write anything I want to."

Recruiting and training volunteers to become pen pals is a year-round process, Moudgil said.

"We target mostly freshmen and second-year students," he said. "A lot of students don't normally do community work. They join K-grams because it's simple."

He said the pairing of 8-year-olds and 18-year-old college students is ideal because the kids feel connected to the adults as mentors and at the same time as friends.

The program has a $35,000 budget, mostly U-M allocations from Student Government and U-M Housing funds.

"I am very passionate about kids while engaging people of my generation," Moudgil said. "It's very rewarding to me. No matter how much effort you put in, it's going to benefit kids."