Aadi Kulkarni

TechPals

Aadi founded TechPals to teach digital skills to senior citizens while fostering intergenerational connections. His group of youth volunteers has provided over 150 hands-on workshops at libraries, senior centers, and retirement homes, as well as online training sessions. They have helped more than 5,000 seniors learn to text, use FaceTime, and recognize scams, among other digital skills. What started as a small IT club has grown into a national nonprofit with over 500 volunteers in nine chapters across seven states. Aadi has raised $20,000 to support outreach, device donations, and training kits. He launched TechPals during the pandemic as he watched his grandmother struggle to join family Zoom calls, open attachments, and fill out online medical forms. He realized her struggle wasn’t just about technology but also about dignity, confidence, and staying connected in an online world. He wondered, “What if students like me, who grew up with technology, could help seniors like her feel less left behind?”

At his first TechPals session, Aadi and a few friends helped a handful of seniors at the local library learn smartphone basics. He figured they’d run a few sessions but the library kept inviting them back and seniors started bringing their friends. As his project grew, he coded a central website to manage volunteer sign-ups and logistics across time zones. He also implemented project management tools and introduced incentives like verifying volunteer hours for school and service credit. He is currently working with New Hampshire representatives to pass a resolution addressing digital illiteracy among seniors. Despite his project’s massive growth, Aadi’s mission remains the same: connecting with seniors to help them feel valued in a world that often forgets them. “I’ve learned that social impact doesn’t have to require millions of dollars or a massive platform,” says Aadi. “Sometimes, it starts with a few students, a library room, and the courage to show up.”

Alaina Zhang

Harvesting Change

Alaina created Harvesting Change to explore native seaweed’s potential to absorb excess nitrogen along Rhode Island’s coast. Her research demonstrates that sugar kelp farming could serve as an eco-friendly, affordable, and scalable method to reduce nitrogen overload by 30% or more. Nitrogen accumulates in coastal waters from agricultural runoff and urban sewage, causing algal blooms that deplete oxygen levels and threaten marine life. Passionate about using science for service, Alaina has collaborated with marine researchers, field technicians, and local fishermen to conduct her research. She has shared her work with more than 500 Rhode Islanders at workshops and presentations. She has also shared her findings as first author in a manuscript under review for the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

Alaina’s work has its roots in China, where she spent her childhood along algae-laced waters and saw how pollution can erode a community. Alarmed to see the same nitrogen pollution along Rhode Island’s shores, she dug into native seaweed’s potential to address the problem. She cold-emailed researchers at Brown University and the University of Rhode Island, secured permits from the Coastal Resources Management Council, and raised funds to create the first student-run sugar kelp farm in her area. Alaina also initiated the Narragansett Bay Resilience Collaborative to support policy work aimed at improving bay resilience. She has testified in support of five environmental bills, including the Coastal Habitat Conservation Act of 2023, signed into law in 2024. “This journey has taught me that leadership doesn’t begin with confidence — it begins with conviction,” says Alaina. “I’ve learned that initiative isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about being willing to try.”

Anisha Dhoot

EARTH-ai

Anisha has created a machine learning-based platform to support sustainable agriculture and help mitigate climate change. Her Smart Carbon Recycling innovation combines carbon sequestration, seaweed-based fertilizer, biochar derived from plastic waste and biosolids, and an AI-based machine learning model that aids crop selection. The system regenerates soil and improves crop yields, providing small-scale farmers with a strategy for climate-friendly agriculture, especially in developing countries facing soil degradation and food insecurity. Determined to use her passion for STEM to address global warming, Anisha discovered the potential of kelp seaweed to enhance soil’s quality, carbon content, and food production. She worked tirelessly to formulate KelpNutriBoost, a low-cost biofertilizer sourced from Oregon coast kelp. She then began exploring ways for farmers to predict which crops would grow best based on their soil and environmental conditions.

Anisha knew AI’s predictive analytics could help and she set to work building a machine learning model from scratch, training it on a publicly available dataset of 17,000 environmental parameters. She taught herself coding via online courses, including a Python programming one led by an MIT professor. She named her model EARTH-ai – Environmentally Aware Revolutionary Technique for Harvesting. EARTH-ai achieves 99% predictive accuracy and includes a user-friendly smartphone interface. Most recently, Anisha has combined KelpNutriBoost with carbon-rich biochar, made from plastic waste and sewage plant biosolids. She has found that her new formulation greatly improves soil fertility, plant growth rates, and plant nutrient density. She is currently focused on improving climate education in schools, organizing community events to raise awareness and funds for Oregon Food Bank, and distributing her innovative kelp-based fertilizer to local farming communities. “Climate change is real and we must do everything in our power to ensure that human beings don’t destroy this beautiful planet,” says Anisha. “I want to share my passion, spread awareness, and inspire other people to act.”

April Surac

NeuraSensa

April founded NeuraSensa, an initiative redefining the relationship between art, neuroscience, technology, and accessibility. She engineers interactive textile art installations that integrate layered fabrics, embedded sensors, and responsive elements which react to touch, motion, light, and sound. These multisensory installations are designed to support cognitive well-being and reduce sensory barriers for neurodivergent individuals and those with sensory processing differences. April’s work is rooted in lived experience. She grew up inside her family’s furniture shop, surrounded by the discipline of woodworking, textiles, and construction. From an early age she learned that good design demands craftsmanship, adaptability, and a deep understanding of the end user. Later, living with a neurodivergent family member, she began to see how environments often exclude people who process the world differently. That realization became the foundation of NeuraSensa: design should never narrow the circle of participation, it should expand it.

Since 2024, April’s work has engaged more than 10,000 attendees in public, therapeutic, and gallery spaces across Central Florida. She is currently developing new commissions for galleries in New York City, Los Angeles, and London. She has also distributed more than 100 therapeutic kits nationwide, each containing handmade tactile swatches, fidget fabrics, and sensory tools crafted from repurposed materials. April previously organized a community donation drive that delivered more than $3,000 in tactile toys to Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando. She continues to lead co-design workshops where families and educators collaborate to create sensory tools, making accessibility a shared practice rather than a passive service. Beyond outreach she is pushing NeuraSensa into research and development, creating textile-based systems for both large-scale interactive installations and wearable sensory tools with designs now moving toward patent protection. “I believe design should adapt to people, not the other way around,” says April. “NeuraSensa is how I bring together my passions for art, neuroscience, and technology to build systems and spaces that are inclusive by design.”

Asa Miller

¡Viva el Vivero!

Asa created ¡Viva el Vivero! (Long Live the Nursery!), a campaign to help communities in Cuba restore their threatened coral reefs. His initiative provides training, manpower, record keeping, and supplies to threadbare coral reef restoration projects. Asa’s love of marine biology stems from his Cuban grandmother’s stories of white sandy beaches and turquoise waters. He learned early on to scuba dive and film underwater, and then found out that Cuba’s beautiful reefs are threatened by rising ocean temperatures and coral bleaching. Determined to help restore them, he contacted scientists and divers working in the Laguna de Maya Marine Protected Area in Matanzas, 60 miles east of Havana. To prepare for the project, Asa spent weeks in Florida earning dive certifications in coral reef conservation and taking courses in coral reef restoration at the Nature Conservancy in Virginia.

Once in Cuba, he conducted interviews and reviewed dive logs to document the coral reef restoration project in Matanzas since 2019. He also drafted two precise maps of the work to date. He then helped the team execute the coral reef restoration methods that he had learned back in the U.S. They first grew new coral fragments on the site’s nine underwater, tree-type nurseries. They then harvested the healthy coral fragments and replanted them throughout the 1.7 square miles of ocean in the Laguna de Maya Marine Protected Area. To share his team’s techniques, Asa produced, directed, and edited an underwater documentary. The film has been viewed by 10,000 people and has won awards at 25 film festivals around the world. “Close your eyes and think about the environmental problem you care most deeply about and most want to solve,” said Asa in a recent speech at the 2025 Bioneers Conference. “Now open your eyes. What are you waiting for?”

Carter Medved

CrushCarbon, EnviroVols, and WattSherpa

Carter created three youth-led initiatives — CrushCarbon, EnviroVols, and WattSherpa — to make sustainability accessible, actionable, and community-driven. His initiatives have guided local residents in taking steps to reduce emissions, volunteer together, and better understand climate solutions. Carter created CrushCarbon after learning about peaker power plants, some of the country’s dirtiest facilities that are almost always located in low-income neighborhoods. These back-up facilities turn on during high energy demand — so Carter resolved to help households decrease their electricity use during these peak times. He discovered GridRewards, a little-known free app that notifies users before peak energy-use hours and offers rewards for cutting back electricity. To encourage use of the app, Carter partnered with Sustainable Westchester to launch the CrushCarbon Challenge, in which school environmental clubs competed to promote GridRewards in their communities. He built a marketing toolkit and led trainings to reach more than 100,000 residents – and they made it clear they wanted to do more together to promote sustainability.

In response, Carter built EnviroVols, a platform where he has posted more than 275 easy-to-search volunteer opportunities like cleanups and tree plantings. He also created WattSherpa, a storytelling platform where he interviews sustainability experts and translates their work into inspiring stories for students. Carter’s initiatives grew out of his own family’s commitment to reducing their carbon footprint. Over several years, they switched to LED lightbulbs, a geothermal HVAC system, and electric vehicle, cutting their emissions by 67%. Carter wondered, “What if I could help 100 families do what we did, and see climate action as empowering instead of overwhelming?” That question became the foundation for his initiatives aimed at inspiring small efforts. “I’ve learned that leadership isn’t about doing everything yourself — it’s about creating something others want to join,” says Carter. “Impact isn’t just about what you achieve; it’s about what you inspire.”

Cynthia Zhang

Monarchs Matter

Cynthia founded Monarchs Matter to combat biodiversity loss and climate change by sharing the wonder of the monarch butterfly. Since founding her nonprofit in 2023, she has supported youth from over 20 schools in raising, tagging, and releasing monarchs, which have declined by more than 80% in the past thirty years. Cynthia’s program captivates participants with the monarch’s story and yet she knows that even large-scale rearing won’t sustain the species’ recovery. Instead, she works to turn participants’ inspiration into further action, encouraging them to help restore monarch habitat, plant native, and live sustainably. Monarchs Matter volunteers have collaborated with local organizations to create and certify 15 monarch waystations across 34 acres and plant over 2,000 native plants in her community. Each waystation includes milkweed, the sole food source for monarch larvae, and nectar plants, an energy source for adult butterflies.

Cynthia began raising monarchs after meeting a fellow Long Islander who has raised and tagged thousands of the butterflies. She soon expanded her work to form Monarchs Matter and began building local partnerships, as well as ones across the border in Mexico, where monarchs spend the winter in oyamel fir forests. In collaboration with the nonprofit Forests for Monarchs, Cynthia’s group helped plant more than 21,000 trees at Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Cynthia has continued to extend her reach through social media and her website, where she hosts a biodiversity webinar series. She is also working to expand with Monarchs Matter chapters in Long Island’s South Fork, as well as in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. “I’ve seen children’s eyes light up as they release a monarch for the first time,” says Cynthia. “These moments have taught me that change begins with a single spark — a story — a moment of wonder.”

Ethan Hua

H.O.P.E. (Help Our Planet Earth)

Ethan founded the H.O.P.E. (Help Our Planet Earth) school uniform recycling program to reduce landfill waste, ease financial burdens on families, and promote sustainability at the community level. His program has collected more than 12,000 uniforms and redistributed over 9,500 to more than 1,200 families, saving them an estimated $135,000 in clothing costs. By diverting textile waste, H.O.P.E. prevents the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas emitted when clothes decompose in landfills. H.O.P.E. also reduces demand for the production of new uniforms, saving energy, water, and raw materials, all of which contribute to global warming. Ethan launched his initiative with the help of his younger brother in 2020, inspired by his experience growing up in a diverse, environmentally conscious public school district with a mandatory uniform policy. As he quickly outgrew his clothes, he noticed many still-usable garments were discarded. Realizing this practice posed both environmental and financial challenges, he decided to act.

Starting with a single elementary school, Ethan pitched H.O.P.E. to his former principal, who embraced the idea. He began designing flyers, sending weekly emails, and repurposing his family’s garage into a warehouse. To serve his multilingual community, he built a website in English, Spanish and Chinese, and added an online request system with a live inventory tracker to streamline operations. Ethan has grown his program to serve ten schools across three districts and is continuing to expand. He recently secured a partnership with Costco, resulting in a donation of 2,000 articles of brand-new uniforms to replenish H.O.P.E.’s inventory. “I have learned that meaningful change doesn’t require large-scale resources or institutional backing,” says Ethan. “It begins with a simple idea, perseverance, and a willingness to take initiative.”

Gia Providente

Protecting endangered turtles

Gia is helping protect endangered diamondback terrapin turtles on the South Shore of Long Island through awareness signs in her town’s bayfront parks. The signs feature her turtle artwork and slogan — “Go Slow, Terrapins Below” — since the turtles are regularly killed by boat strikes. For the past nine months, Gia has worked to overcome anxiety in using her voice to advocate for turtle protection. She has spoken with town officials and local environmental groups to understand more about terrapins and ways to protect them. She has learned that diamondback terrapins are the only turtles in the world that can live in brackish waters. She has also learned that they are endangered, and regularly killed by cars and boats.

Gia was inspired to help the turtles after a trip to the North Shore of Long Island, where she noticed signs along the beach about terrapins and their nesting areas. She began watching the waters near her home and noticed terrapins there, too — in the canals and on the surface of the bay. Concerned that many of her boating neighbors didn’t know about the terrapins, Gia reached out to local nonprofits Friends of the Bay and Seatuck about the most effective ways to raise awareness. She learned from these groups that informational signs similar to the ones she’d seen on the North Shore can be hugely helpful. Gia set to work designing signs and asked the Town Board to consider making and installing them. Her signs will soon be placed in two local bayfront parks and she will be honored for her efforts at a Town Board meeting. “I’ve learned that by being brave and using my voice, I can stand up for our environment,” says Gia. “I hope my story inspires other kids to be brave and to know they can make a difference!”

Matthew Vila

Harmony Hugs

Matthew founded Harmony Hugs, a nonprofit that provides free instrumental music lessons to youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Each week, his team of 40 student musicians teaches more than 70 youth at seven locations across Miami-Dade County. With support from the Guitar Center Music Foundation, Harmony Hugs has distributed over $10,000 worth of instruments to students, ensuring a cost-free program for families. A longtime musician, Matthew launched his program to use his passion for music to help others. Also passionate about inclusion, he has volunteered for several years with Best Buddies, a national nonprofit that supports individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Convinced that special needs youth could learn to play music and benefit from it, he cold-called twelve special education schools, offering to teach their students. Eleven said no — but one said yes.

Matthew started small as an after-school program with three volunteer teachers and five special needs students. Each student volunteer was required to bring two of whatever instrument they played — one for them and one for their student. Informal lesson plans catered to the needs of each student. As Matthew learned more about music therapy, his impromptu lessons developed into a structured curriculum that integrates ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) music therapy techniques. He now serves youth as young as three months through 18 years old. He has recently published a children’s book titled Harmony in our Hearts about a child with autism who overcomes his fear of performing in his school’s talent show. All proceeds will support Matthew’s plans to expand Harmony Hugs to five additional locations across Miami-Dade. “I’ve come to realize that the true test of a leader is their ability to never lose sight of the people they serve,” says Matthew. “I want to spend the rest of my life researching the effects of music therapy and crusading for the cause of inclusion.”

Nicolina Pappas

Nicolina’s Turtle Co.

Nicolina founded Nicolina’s Turtle Co., a nonprofit committed to reducing plastic use and educating others about the importance of conservation. She has developed a far-reaching Skip the Plastic campaign, encouraging communities to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics. She has rallied her peers to join her in asking local businesses to adopt an “upon request” policy for plastic straws and cutlery, providing them only when customers ask. Partnering with a coalition of more than 100 mayors along the Mississippi River, Nicolina has presented her Skip the Plastic campaign to 14 cities across Illinois and Iowa. She has received 14 proclamations in support of it, representing 250,000 residents. She has also successfully testified before both the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives, resulting in both chambers adopting her authored resolutions and declaring April 1 as Skip the Plastic Day.

Nicolina began her work as an 8-year-old, moved by the viral video of a sea turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nose. Determined to help turtles, she began using a metal straw and sewed a cloth pouch to protect it. She sewed more pouches and sold them to raise money for conservation projects — especially turtle ones. In the six years since then, Nicolina has shared her conservation message with more than 3,500 youth and adults at schools, conferences, and organizations. She has also raised more than $15,000 to fund river cleanups, establish a zoo camp scholarship, and support local conservation education initiatives. “I’ve come to realize we’re in the middle of a huge plastics crisis and need to spark change as much as possible,” says Nicolina. “I’ve learned to use my voice and that people will listen even though I’m young.”

Srihan Sankepalle

Microplastics removal system

Srihan has developed a low-cost, scalable system to remove microplastics from rivers, lakes, and coastlines. His chemically triggered, titanium dioxide-coated foam system captures and quickly degrades microplastics through the use of UV light. The system costs 90% less than commercial ones, requires no power supply beyond UV light, and uses nontoxic materials that are readily available. Fascinated by environmental health and science, Srihan began his work after realizing the extent of microplastics polluting rivers, oceans, and even drinking water. Troubled by the thought of people unknowingly consuming plastics in their water and aware that much of the world can’t afford high-cost filtration, he decided to pursue an effective, economical solution.

To start, he needed his foam to accumulate a reasonable amount of plastic. Srihan spent late nights and weeks of frustration working through countless iterations to get the microplastic nanoparticles to stick to the foam. Commercial products failed and homemade hacks flopped until he finally landed on using acetic acid (found in vinegar) and baking soda to trigger a greater surface adhesion. Unlike other complicated and expensive systems, his is compatible for small-scale use in underdeveloped areas. Given that, Srihan is focusing on sharing his work so that it can soon be used in real-world applications. With the guidance of mentors, he is creating outreach materials for regional water departments, university labs, and environmental clean-up organizations. He is also working to get his system into field trials. He’ll then pursue funding for large-scale production of water treatment kits that can ship to areas of need. “I’ve learned that science and service need not exist in separate universes,” says Srihan. “When they meet, the result is revolutionary.”

Vick & William Tan

Fish Hut

Brothers Vick and William co-founded Fish Hut to support mental health in youth by promoting time outdoors and connection through fishing. Their nonprofit has placed more than 50 Fish Hut boxes full of fishing equipment near public lakes, at libraries, and in schools, largely in underserved communities. The equipment is free to borrow and ensures that any young person who wants to fish can. Vick and William have placed boxes in Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, with plans to distribute 1,000 Fish Huts across the country. They also host free fishing festivals and organize Minnesota’s largest free ice fishing event. Their 2024 event attracted 300 youth and families, with sponsorship from 15 corporate partners including Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Starbucks. In the past two years, Fish Hut has raised over $35,000 from dozens of sponsors and has taught more than 80,000 youth to fish.

Vick and William began their work as avid fishermen who know firsthand the calming, stress-relieving benefits of fishing. When they learned that nearly 70% of youth have experienced mental health challenges, they decided to create events to help kids access fishing and connect with nature. They recently partnered with New York City Parks to offer a free fishing clinic in Central Park. They also partner with the JED Foundation, one of the country’s largest mental health organizations, to arrange mental health speakers at their fishing events. The brothers will soon expand Fish Hut across Minnesota, with funding from several state agencies as well as corporate sponsors. “I’ve learned the massive impact that just having an idea and running with it can have,” says Vick. “The most rewarding moments come from kids who can’t wait for the next event — a clear sign that we’re making a difference,” adds William.

Vivian Liu

Origami For Good

Vivian founded Origami For Good, a global nonprofit that has inspired more than 7,000 volunteers to create over 825,000 pieces of origami for people in hospitals, nursing homes, and children’s centers around the world. Vivian has seen countless times how these small, carefully crafted gifts can bring comfort, spread joy, and foster a sense of connection. She has grown her project to 200 chapters across 50 countries including Japan, India, and the U.S. She has also built partnerships with corporations such as Krispy Kreme and Panda Express to cover shipping costs and new chapter activities. In her recent TEDxThirdWard talk in Houston, Vivian spoke passionately about the power of something as small as origami to create far-reaching ripple effects.

Her passion for origami began in childhood, sitting at her grandmother’s kitchen table, watching as she turned a piece of paper into something beautiful and full of life — a crane, a butterfly, or a flower. When Vivian began volunteering in nursing homes and saw how many elderly residents spent their days alone, she began folding cranes and giving them as gifts. Seeing the joy they brought, she asked a few friends to join her at school for folding sessions — and Origami For Good was born. Today, volunteers in chapters across the globe gather weekly or monthly to fold paper into beautiful gestures of kindness and deliver them to more than 150 facilities. “I used to think that making a difference required lots of money or massive action,” says Vivian. “But Origami For Good started with just some paper and a desire to make a difference. I’ve learned that impact isn’t about size — it’s about the lives you touch.”

Zinia Khattar

Biomedical research to treat disease

Zinia is passionate about using molecular biology to develop new and affordable treatments for neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases. She has designed a novel gene-set profiling algorithm to explore specific cellular mechanisms that can be regulated to alleviate mitochondrial dysfunction — the root of many diseases. An advocate of collaborative research, Zinia wrote her algorithm’s code in a way that allows other scientists to utilize it to answer physiological questions of their own. Employing her algorithm, Zinia uncovered the stress-responsive signaling pathway responsible for maintaining mitochondrial health. From there, she searched a large database of pre-clinical and FDA-approved drugs for any that could be repurposed to target components in the pathway she pinpointed. Her work sets the stage for the repurposing and development of new drugs to treat some of the world’s most serious and prevalent diseases. Researching alongside graduate students and professors, Zinia co-authored a manuscript outlining her work that has been published in The Molecular Biology of the Cell journal.

Zinia’s commitment to biomedical research stems in part from watching a family member with Type-1 diabetes take daily insulin injections, an ordeal that has persisted for decades and has no end in sight. This experience led Zinia to pursue scientific research as an avenue for helping the millions of people impacted by metabolic disorders. As she began searching online for scientific articles and learned of researchers’ uncertainty around mechanisms for protecting mitochondrial health, she embarked on her research journey. “Over time, I’ve seen how much impactful science is left trickling in the bureaucratic pipeline,” says Zinia. “But by leading discoveries while simultaneously providing the public with unfiltered research updates, I hope to help streamline the path from lab innovations to patient-based applications.”