Way to Go: Kristijan Barnjak, Seaford

Kristijan Barnjak recently made it his mission to give classmates a new place to play.

The fifth-grader at Seaford Manor Elementary School led a rally for a new playground after the previous one was deemed unsafe and torn down last year, school officials said.

Kristijan wrote a letter to principal Debra Emmerich at the start of the school year asking if the school could enter the Dannon Danimals' Rally for Recess, which included a $20,000 prize for a playground makeover. The contest required participants to log in to a website and enter codes from the Danimals yogurt packaging in order to gain points for their school.

To spread the word, Kristijan made posters and fliers and issued daily announcements over the school's PA system. He also asked peers to donate one stamp each and led a campaign to send in codes from the yogurt's cardboard packaging to gain even more points.

"If everyone in the school brought in a stamp, we'd gain another 1,000 points," he said.

Despite tallying more than 25,000 points, the school fell short to a competitor that earned 26,610. Still, Kristijan's efforts weren't lost on his school community.

"He sets a great example for everyone in the school," Emmerich said. "He's a natural leader who leads by example."