We’re reached the end of our 2024 scholarship winner spotlights. You can find out more about our other winners by clicking on their names: Jack, Thrisha, Sahana, and Josephine. Last, but certainly not least, we have Elia Woods, who created The Recycling Project, which is aimed to provide better water accessibility to homeless and other underserved populations.
Elia described what made this project come about, “One day, when my mom and I were volunteering at Paz de Cristo, a local homeless charity, we noticed a problem. While dinner was being served, we noticed that many of those in need were using old Circle K cups or crinkled plastic water bottles for their drinking water. They were then coming back to the water dispenser several times to refill small styro-foam coffee cups and old disposable bottles. They clearly did not have a durable solution to store/drink water outside of the shelter.”
When she realized it was a problem at one homeless shelter, Elia realized it was likely a problem at other shelters as well, and that she could do something to help. Her solution for this was to place donation bins in various businesses in the community. There, people could donate new or used reusable water bottles. Elia would then collect the water bottles, wash them, then donate them to those in need.
These donations would help to alleviate the problem of poor quality water containers while also reducing the use of single use plastic water bottles. In 2022, Elia was able to collect and donate 678 reusable water bottles, and in 2023, she was able to collect over 1,500! What an amazing impact this project has had.
We’re continuing our spotlights of our 2024 scholarship winners. You can read our other spotlight posts here, here, and here.
Today’s spotlight is on Josephine Gardiner, whose aim is to provide free swim lessons to underprivileged and underserved children. Josephine grew up swimming and on swim teams, and feels very comfortable in and around the water. As she watched her classmates and others swim, she realized that not everyone was as confident in water as she was.
Thus, her project, “Pool Panthers” was born. Josephine’s overall goal was to “improve water safety and wellbeing for youth and teens in under-resourced communities.” To achieve this goal, she plans to teaching basic floating and swimming skills, teaching children how to use swim equipment, helping children understand water safety skills, educating parents and guardians how to be effective water watchers, and promoting a fun water environment while also encouraging children to love water while being safe in it.
Josephine planned to hold lessons at low-income housing complexes, alleviating the problem of how children would travel to their swim lessons. She used Red Cross trained volunteer instructors and life guards, and would hold multiple lessons at the same location so as to reach as many kids as possible. She also made sure to cater to all skills and comfort levels.
By providing these free lessons, Josephine has been able to promote a safe relationship with water while still allowing for children to have fun and get use out of their community pools.
Today we continue our spotlights on our 2024 scholarship recipients. You can read about our other winners here and here.
Our spotlight today is on Sahana Gupta. Sahana came to realize that while many children in foster care had their basic needs taken care of, extra “wants” were often overlooked. She set out to create a positive birthday memory for children in the Charlottesville Attention Foster Family by baking, decorating, and delivering personalized birthday cakes.
Her goals include to expand her project beyond the foster care system to serving other children in need, as well as creating partnerships with bakeries and children’s organizations to maximize the reach of her project.
Sahana had all the resources at her own home, and was able to get cakes made and delivered easily, which allowed for her to get her idea up and going quickly and effectively. You can check out her website Hani’s Heroes for more information.
As someone who has had a cousin and a niece adopted into my family out of foster care, I absolutely love this project and the thought and consideration Sahana put into the children who are in foster care. It’s an important work, for sure!
Every year, we award five $10,000 scholarships to graduation seniors who have created and put into action a program of some kind to give back to and help their community. Our 2024 winners worked hard to do just that. You can check out our top winner here. We’d also like to take the opportunity to spotlight the other four winners!
Today’s spotlight is on Thrisha Kalpatthi, who launched Pittsburgh Metro Math.
From her early grade school years, Thrisha has been involved in competitive math. As she got older, she noticed a lack of diversity in those competitions. She began to see that most competitions were geared toward students who had more experience and who had sharpened their math skills with the use of coaches and other prepatory materials. Students who did not have access to those extra resources often left competitions without awards and feeling discouraged. This outcome would sometimes lead to those students losing confidence and interest in math. Thrisha realized that it would be incredibly beneficial to create “an inclusive environment that would foster talent among all aspiring mathematicians.”
Using her own experience and knowledge about mathematic competitions and creative problem solving, Thrisha set out to find a way to help these aspiring mathematicians. Together with her sister, she designed, organized, and launched the Pittsburgh Metro Math Competition. In order to make this happen, she secured scholarships, created competition questions, and gathered volunteers. She held two competitions with great success, and even raised $1500 for the Brashear Association, a non-profit organization in her community. She is also working on launching weekly math classes, hoping to equip students with the knowledge needed to compete and excel in higher level competitions.
Good work, Thrisha! I love this project and the positive impact it has had on students and the interest in mathematics that it has generated for students in her area.
I don’t think a single year goes by where I don’t comment on how hard choosing scholarship winners is. Spending time reading through each application and hearing about how each of these kids is making a difference in their communities is so encouraging. I want to at the very least give each of them a big hug and tell them they are making the world a better place!
We are so grateful for each applicant we received this year and inspired by the work they are doing. Five top projects stood out to us in the end and here they are…
Jack Voelker: All Latitudes Lacrosse
Jack noticed lacrosse players from opposing teams sharing equipment because they did not have enough gear to go around for everyone. Instead of keeping this as a simple observation, he did something about it, because he felt the players deserved more. He gathered gently used equipment to donate to teams in need around his community, and eventually grew and grew his project internationally.
Jack is our top winner and recipient of the $5,000 grant towards furthering his project, which he plans to put towards reusable period products for girls who are unable to play lacrosse during the week they are menstruating because of the lack of period products available to them.
You can see more of his work on his Instagram account:
Thrisha has a love for participating in math competitions in her community but felt discouraged by the lack of diversity at these math competitions. She decided if there was anyone that would do anything about it, it was her! She brainstormed what barriers were keeping everyone from being involved and set to work to create math competitions that break these barriers and include everyone.
On top of creating an inclusive environment, she also worked hard to generate donations for The Brashear Association, a local non-profit that works towards community resources.
Elia Woods: The Recycling Project
Elia is an Arizona teen who found an impactful way to make a difference in her community. Water is one of the most basic human needs, so she took something some people have an overabundance of (reusable water bottles) and found a way to distribute them to community members who needed better water access. Not only did she do this project, but she also made sure accessible water spouts for filling the bottles were available.
Josie Gardiner is an avid swimmer who realizes the privilege and lack of representation of the sport. Water safety is also a big priority for her, so she set out to find a way to help more kids become water-safe and give them proper swimming gear. By providing free swimming lessons in low-income housing neighborhoods, she was able to reach her goal and provide lessons to the children who needed it most.
Sahana Gupta: Hani’s Heros
Sahana saw the positive impact the foster care system was making for children by providing them with their needs, but she felt like she could do more by helping provide for their wants as well, as those often are overlooked. She worked with her local foster care center to make free, extravagant birthday cakes for as many children as possible, even connecting with local bakeries to widen her ability to reach more children.
Our 2024 scholarship is officially open and taking applications! You can see our 2023 winners, as well as all past winners, here.
The Honors Graduation scholarship program is specifically for graduating high school teens with the intention of attending a college, university, or trade school the following school year. Our scholarship platform is project-based, with building a better future for your own community at the center of it.
Our scholarship becomes increasingly competitive each year, and our winners are submitting better community projects each time. So what exactly are we looking for in our 2024 scholarship applicants?
Community-Based Projects: Projects that directly impact and influence the immediate community and better the people and environment.
Community-Driven Students: We’re looking for students active in their community and students driven to see it grow, change, and better.
Students that Care: We are seeking out students who care about their community, their project, and the people they are serving.
Students Fighting for a Change: Anyone can look around and see a problem. They might even have a way to solve the problem. We’re looking for problem solvers. The students who not only see the problem and come up with the solution but also act on it, too. The students that are fighting for a change.
We cannot wait for the 2024 applications to be submitted next spring so we can read more about the problems teens see in their communities and their ideas and actions to alleviate those issues. Together we truly can build a better future!
Our 2023 scholarship season has come to a close. The applications we received absolutely blew us away and choosing our final 5 winners was harder than ever. We are constantly inspired by our scholarship applicants and the ways they better their communities.
Our 2024 scholarship is NOW LIVE. This means you can read the rules and submit a feedback form, as well as your final application (although, I would recommend holding off on your final application until the due date is closer!)
If you know of a graduating high school senior, would you please send them the link to our 2024 Build a Better Future Scholarship? All seniors deserve to know about this application and anyone sharing on their social media or through word of mouth always helps us reach those that need to see it.
As always, our email is open for any questions or feedback. Do not hesitate to reach out!
