Norwich — When Amanda Lumpkins finished her junior year at Norwich Free Academy a year ago, she gave herself a summer homework assignment.

“I really wanted to do a big project,” she said, “just to do it.”

The Baltic teenager knew Madonna Place in downtown Norwich helps struggling families. She met with Deniel Fournier, associate manager and children's services coordinator, and offered to provide full backpacks to the program's school-aged children.

Fournier enthusiastically accepted, and if she felt the task of raising money, buying supplies and filling 20 backpacks customized for students from preschool to 10th grade seemed a tall order, Lumpkins' confidence soon assuaged her.

“She never had a doubt she would be able to raise the funds and complete the project,” Fournier said. “It was really nice to work with her.”

Lumpkins recruited classmates Vidhi Surti and Maggie Peter to help seek donations and fill the backpacks. Armed with Madonna Place's nonprofit status, Lumpkins asked store managers for donations or gift cards to purchase supplies.

She ended up raising $400, including a $200 gift card from Target and $50 from Five Below, both in Lisbon. Young students received crayons, pencils, rulers and notebooks. Older students found notebooks, pens, pencils, calculators and geometry kits in their bags.

Lumpkins had $20 remaining, so she bought “special little gifts” for each backpack. All students also received a hand-written note wishing them a happy and successful school year. That was “a step beyond,” Fournier said.

Lumpkins, now 18, will graduate from NFA on June 15 and will attend Salve Regina University in Newport, not far from where her mother, Julie Lumpkins, grew up. Lumpkins will arrive on campus in late August, a little earlier than others, to join the “service plunge” for students to sign up for volunteer projects in the community.

“What drew her to Salve is that they had all these opportunities to go into the community and give back,” her father, Donald, said. Lumpkins frequently volunteers with her dad at St. Mary's Church in Baltic.

The strong photography program and darkroom was another draw, Lumpkins said. She plans to major in English and communications and minor in photography to become a photojournalist.

Lumpkins already is an accomplished photographer. She had a photo in the Mystic Art Show and in May had three pieces in the Norwich Art School Student Art Show at the Converse Art Gallery. Her teacher Ian Pawluk encouraged her to submit her work for the student art contest. Lumpkins won $525, funded by the NFA Foundation, for "achievement in photography."

“It all went toward college,” she said of the prize.

For her yearlong senior photography project, she chose the theme “social issues.” To show how people lose their individuality in war, Lumpkins bought a gas mask on EBay. She recruited photography classmate Alexandra Tudisca — as an only child, she has gotten good at recruiting subjects — to don the smelly mask and stand in front of a raging fire in a burn pit.

Lumpkins' 10-year-old cousin Cassidy Provost is a frequent model. In one photo in the student art show, Cassidy stares in the mirror at herself with a dejected frown, a magazine photo of a glamorous model propped in front of the mirror. In another, Cassidy holds a fan of dollar bills. Taped to a sheet hanging behind her are a couple dozen playing cards. Taped to Cassidy's closed eyes are cutouts of the clubs and spades images. Again, she's wearing the dejected frown.

In the third photo, she lined up four fruit against a wall. In front of the grape is a tag: “I'm too small.” The orange feels it is too fat, the banana too tall and the pear tag says “my butt is too big.”

Lumpkins said she prefers film photography to digital because it forces her to think out the image to get it right. “With traditional photography, you can't just hit delete. You really have to frame it and make sure it's just right.”

Lumpkins has been accepted in the Salve Regina Pell Honor's Program, and she is proud that she finally was inducted into the National Honor Society this year at NFA. Last year, she earned a GPA of 3.58, just shy of the 3.66 needed.

“That gave me incentive this year,” Lumpkins said. “This year, I held all A's.”

Donald Lumpkins said he has seen that kind of determination in his daughter before. Throughout grade school, Lumpkins had to work extra hard to keep up, even attending summer school to catch up and be ready for the next level with her friends.

“We think NFA is a wonderful school,” he said. “They've done a lot for her, and for a lot of kids. We're thankful for them.”

Amanda Lumpkins won't be done with NFA June 15. NFA Director of Communications Geoff Serra offered her a summer volunteer internship. She will attend marketing meetings, write material for publications and meet with advertisers for those publications. Serra said Lumpkins was an easy choice, given her credentials and her college plans.

“I offered her the opportunity right way,” Serra said. “She will have an opportunity to use her photography skills.”

c.bessette@theday.com