Name: Daniel Morton
Age: 16
School: Kailua High School
Pastime: Playing on his computer
Future: Degree in computer science at University of Hawaii

All those saying mothers teach their children came true for Daniel Morton.

The Kailua High School junior has put in a ton of volunteer time helping teachers set up computer labs and students learn how to use them. The word got out and helped launch a small computer-consultant business for him.

It all started when Morton read in a school newsletter that Keolu Elementary School needed a computer lab. He decided that would be a good project to earn his Eagle patch in Boy Scouts. Volunteering about 230 hours, Morton wrote letters to 28 businesses asking them to donate computers.

The response: 25 computers from companies like McCorriston Miho Miller Mukai law firm, Bank of America and GTE Hawaiian Tel.

After collecting and storing the computers in his house, he taught other Scouts how to clean them and troubleshoot for problems. The computers were then handed over to a grateful Peggy Nakamoto, computer technologist at Keolu Elementary.

People heard about his project, and now he has three clients who have hired him as a computer consultant. While many young people worry about finding jobs after graduation, Morton is an optimist about the future.

"There are so many jobs out there, some that haven't even been thought of yet," he said.