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Meagan has worked passionately since middle school to document and protect wildlife in the Southwest by capturing photos of ocelots, mountain lions, and other animals with remote-sensing cameras. She currently works at Sky Island Alliance as a Wildlife Specialist studying the impacts of new U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure that threatens to cut off wildlife populations in the Americas. She manages photo data from more than one hundred remote-sensing wildlife cameras along the U.S.-Mexico border. Each year, Meagan views over two million photos and identifies thousands of animals, helping to protect the wildlife communities of the region she holds dear.

David launched Job-Link Racine in 2008 to connect low-income teens with part-time jobs in his hometown of Racine, Wisconsin. He went on to study political science at Vanderbilt University to better understand the role governments can play in addressing societal issues like poverty. He then spent four years working at Google before returning to the classroom at Harvard Law School. David moved back to Wisconsin in 2022 to begin a two-year clerkship on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He continues to believe there is a critical role for state governments to play in creating the optimal conditions for social progress.

Josh launched Joshua’s Heart Foundation in elementary school to help feed the underserved in his South Florida community. In the 17 years since then, his nonprofit has distributed more than five million meals and over six million pounds of food, impacting more than 600,000 individuals. Committed to youth development, Joshua’s Heart has also engaged 60,000 youth volunteers worldwide and established a Junior Advisory Board that supports and runs operations. Josh continues to play an integral role in the organization. He is a recent graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business and works in corporate strategy for Fiserv, a global provider of financial services technology.

Josiah co-founded Save the Nautilus in middle school to raise awareness of the plight of the nautilus, one of Earth’s oldest creatures. In the decade since then, he has continued to help spread awareness about the danger facing this ancient creature. He helped achieve listing the nautilus under CITIES in 2016, which regulates the international trade of the nautilus, and listing it under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 2017. Josiah recently began work with researchers in the field to understand and better protect the nautilus from threats like overfishing, habitat fragmentation, and climate change.

After creating the environmental magazine Regeneration in high school, Heidi dove deeply into the environmental sciences and will soon complete her PhD in Oceanography from Rutgers University. While pursuing her scientific studies, she interned with the U.S. EPA, the New Jersey state legislature, and lobbyists in D.C. — experiences that inspired her to make a career out of science policy. She is currently working as the Policy Director for the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, a nonprofit committed to protecting the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Heidi claims her role there makes her the “Lorax of South Jersey!”

Jahkil created Project I Am at age 8 to help the homeless in Chicago and to build awareness of the homelessness problem. Seven years later, his efforts have raised $400,000 and impacted 100,000 people in need across the globe. Jahkil has also galvanized over 1,000 youth volunteers worldwide. Recognized by President Obama as one of 2017’s most influential people, Jahkil is a two-time best-selling author, CNN Hero, Marvel Hero, and Giving Tuesday Spark. He continues to enjoy teaching social entrepreneurship to middle schoolers and sharing his message of “Don’t Wait To Be Great!”