"I like volunteering," Monette said. "It's probably because I used to be in Boy Scouts. I was a real active member."

An Eagle Scout project actually helped prepare Monette for the task of getting students around the state to participate in the walkathon.

Two years ago, Monette took part in a landscaping project at a Ronald McDonald House, for which he had to enlist the help of 40 other scouts and collect $2,600 in donations to get the supplies.

While putting in planter boxes, plants, sod and sprinklers, Monette met children with cancer, as well as juvenile diabetes.

"We talked with a few of them and it was really sad," he said. "From that project, I wanted to move on to something else to help children with diseases."

His family had participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Walkathon through his mother's work.

His father, a teacher at Pearl City High School, had been trying to get students from his school involved. Monette decided to take it a step further.

By e-mailing family friends and school service clubs, Monette managed to get 19 schools to participate.

He encouraged students within those schools to take part by giving presentations that gave the other students a taste of what life was like for a diabetic child.

His role as coordinator meant he couldn't actually walk with the other students. Instead, he helped serve food to the finishers.

Monette's short-term goals include getting even more students to participate in the Juvenile Diabetes Walkathon in November.

His long-term goals include becoming a cartoonist or animator (examples of his artwork can be found at his Juvenile Diabetes Walkathon Web site, www.geocities.com/makmmonette/JDRF12.html.

Who helped you? "Mom and Dad," Monette said. "They remind me about certain things and help with brainstorming ideas sometimes."

What advice would you give to other kids who want to follow your example? "They have to be able to talk to people and be comfortable being able to present before big groups and at meetings," he said.