Three Harvard students entered the national spotlight yesterday when USA Today honored this year's undergraduate "Academic All-Stars" on its front page.

Reshma Jagsi '95 and Drew D. Hansen '95 were featured in the newspaper as part of the 20-member "All-USA Academic First Team."

The competition distinguishes college students who "combine academic brilliance with energetic leadership and a desire to use their talents to help others," according to the paper.

George Lin '95 won an honorable mention in the competition.

"My parents get a kick out of seeing me in the paper," said Jagsi, who was featured as one of Glamour magazine's top 10 college women in the fall.

Almost 1,400 college students nationwide applied for positions on the teams, according to the paper. Each first-team member will receive a trophy and $2500 cash award.

Jagsi is a fourth-year advanced standing government concentrator who is spending this year taking graduate level courses.

She aspires to a career as a physician and health policy analyst. Jagsi spent last summer interning at Boston's Health Care for All, an organization which runs a health helpline for the uninsured.

"We help people who don't understand how to get health care--we give them information about navigating through public programs," Jagsi said in an interview yesterday.

Jagsi said that in the essay she sub- mitted to USA Today she discussed a follow-upshe had compiled on the people the help-line wasunable to assist.

In her essay she argued that the peopleidentified in the follow-up are representative ofthose whom health care reform must strive toserve.

A community service- devotee, Jagsi is acabinet coordinator on the Phillips Brooks HouseAssociation's board of directors.

Hansen, a social studies concentrator andRhodes Scholar, is the founder of Harvard'sPartners for Empowering Neighborhoods program,which runs education and employment programs atlocal homeless shelters and public housingdevelopments.

He also teaches literacy skills to the homelessand does stand-up comedy, according to USA Today.Hansen could not be reached for comment lastnight.

Jagsi said she was notified about her selectionfor the honor in late January. Lin, however, saidhe did not know about the honorable mention untilThe Crimson called him for comment yesterday.

"It's an honor to be selected to at least partof the team," Lin said.

Lin, a biochemistry concentrator, said he wrotehis USA Today essay about his experience lastsummer working at the National Cancer Institute inFrederick, Maryland.

Lin assisted research on the development of avirus-based HIV vaccine.

He plans to return to the institute again thissummer