Staff Reports | Community Updates
Junior Achievement of Arizona is announcing the 2025 Junior Achievement of Arizona 18 under 18 winners.
Junior Achievement of Arizona representatives say winners this year have started businesses and nonprofits, broken glass ceilings and volunteered or advocated for a cause. They all have something in common: They are not waiting until they are adults to make a difference in the world. These Arizonan students distinguish themselves with their creativity, passion, and drive.
“Each year, we are inspired by the remarkable ways our students excel—both in the classroom and in their communities,” said Katherine Cecala, CEO of Junior Achievement of Arizona. “In such a short time, they achieve so much, reminding us that the future is in the hands of thoughtful, driven leaders who are already making a difference in the world around them.”
2025 18 under 18 Winners:
Maryam Al Qaderi
Age: 17
Grade: Senior
School: Xavier College Prep
City: Peoria
Maryam aspires to be an oncologist. She worked as an intern at TGen, studying and conducting research on brain tumors in pediatric patients, and volunteering at Mayo Clinic Hospital. She’s also been involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for several years. During the 2024 campaign, she led a team of 20 students and raised more than $109,000 in just seven weeks. She will be a pre-med student at Harvard University in Fall 2025.
Nassar Bahody
Age: 17
Grade: Senior
School: West Point High School
City: Goodyear
Nassar Bahody believes in the power of giving back and connecting with others in his community. He’s founded several nonprofits and student organizations including STEAM Through Leadership, the West Point Surprise Squad and NeuroAdvocacy, a passion project meant to both advocate for and empower those living with intellectual disabilities. These initiatives have impacted thousands of lives and raised tens of thousands of dollars for the community. Nassar plans to pursue higher education and major in Neuroscience.
Sarah Bendok
Age: 17
Grade: Junior
School: Phoenix Country Day School
City: Phoenix
Sarah Bendok’s summers in Lebanon working alongside farmers in her grandmother’s village exposed her to the harsh realities of agriculture. Seeing the extreme heat and scarce resources that make farming a daily struggle made her aware of similar struggles in Phoenix. Determined to make a difference, she founded the nonprofit Growing Green, and helped bring the first grid-connected agrivoltaics system to Phoenix. Her work is supported by a USDA collaboration to collect crop data. She hopes to study chemical engineering and business, with a focus on developing solutions to combat climate change.
Owen Brosanders
Age: 17
Grade: Junior
School: University High School
City: Tucson
Owen strives to create systemic change by reducing his community’s environmental footprint. He is a co-lead of the Arizona Youth Climate Coalition and recently co-developed the Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) Climate Action Resolution. It recently passed by a 4-1 vote and now the District is working on implementing changes. Owen is the only student serving on TUSD’s Bond Oversight Committee and he helps determine the allocation of $480 million from an infrastructure bond. Owen plans to pursue a degree in political science and always will continue advocating for change.
Pamela Carbajal
Age: 17
Grade: Junior
School: Nogales High School
City: Nogales
Pamela is a dynamic and compassionate leader who demonstrates leadership skills through her involvement at school, in the community and her church. She’s in the AFJROTC program where she serves as Cadet Lieutenant Colonel and leads a unit of 131 cadets. She’s also in a leadership role with AFJROTC Honors Society, MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) and her church youth group. Additionally, she’s proud of her heritage and enjoys performing with the Mariachi Apache, using music as a tool to give back to her community. Pamela is planning to major in Architecture.
Ellegra Davis
Age: 16
Grade: Junior
School: Chaparral High School
City: Scottsdale
Ellegra is inspiring and empowering young people to take action by bringing the Human Library Organization to Chaparral High School– the first high school in the country to host these types of events! The Denmark-based program invites people from the community to share their unique stories as “human books.” Ellegra is also Junior Class President, a member of the Scottsdale Mayor’s Youth Council and Swift Youth Organization, and the World Tennis Federation ranks her in the top 70 players for 16-year-olds in Central Arizona. She plans to attend college and bring the Human Library with her wherever she goes.
Ashton Dolce
Age: 17
Grade: Junior
School: Basis Scottsdale
City: Phoenix
Ashton has been recognized for his strong entrepreneurial spirit and work on climate action locally, nationally and internationally. In the Summer of 2023, he founded Sunrise Movement Phoenix, a leading youth climate justice group in Phoenix; two years ago, Ashton launched an advocacy campaign focused on extreme heat. Ashton plans to attend law school, believing work and advocacy now will prepare him for a future career in Public Policy.
Archana Gurudu
Age: 17
Grade: Junior
School: Paradise Valley High School
City: Phoenix
Archana believes the arts have the power to promote self-esteem and self-efficacy, while allowing young people to express themselves without constraints. As a teaching assistant at the Scottsdale Artists’ School’s Youth Academy, she saw the need to make arts education more accessible. Archana began selling her own original paintings, along with greeting cards of her artwork at the Art One Gallery. All of the proceeds benefit local nonprofits. She hopes to pursue a career in research and clinical AI, with a particular interest in informatics.
Harper Helfman
Age: 18
Grade: Senior
School: Desert Mountain High School
City: Scottsdale
Harper is a firm believer that if you have a talent, you should use it to help others. She thrives in mathematics and harnesses that knowledge to create engaging and accessible lessons that simplify challenging math concepts. Her curriculum helps adult real estate students learn the skills and confidence they need to pass their exams. She’s also passionate about educating people on heart health. Harper plans to major in biomedical engineering and dreams of becoming a surgeon.
Karina Koppikar
Age: 17
Grade: Junior
School: Chaparral High School
City: Phoenix
Karina Koppikar is passionate about working with students of all backgrounds. Whether teaching families in need about proper nutrition through her nonprofit My Tasty Table, virtually tutoring Ukrainian refugees, or working to improve mental health through books as a Loving Library ambassador, Karina believes in the healing power of empathy and community. Karina dreams of attending Law School to ultimately help reform the foster care system.
Lizbeth Ortiz
Age: 18
School: Buckeye Union High School
City: Buckeye
Lizbeth created the Civic Engagement Guide, a resource to empower youth from underprivileged backgrounds by connecting them to leadership and civic opportunities. The Guide is provided through a youth-led organization called Civic Activist and is now available throughout the United States, Mexico and will be offered in Guatemala this fall. Civic Activist is an organization that hopes to bridge the civic literacy gap across the world. She was recently named a 2025 Coca-Cola Scholar, one of only 150 recipients nationwide chosen from a pool of over 105,000 applicants. She plans to study Public Policy and pursue a law degree.
Nithish Prakash
Age: 16
School: Basis Scottsdale
City: Phoenix
Nithish became very interested in humanitarian work after attending the Global Health Leaders Conference at John Hopkins University. So much so, he used his experience working in a lab at ASU to transform his own bathroom into a lab, designed to conduct experiments and develop a novel device that helps detect viruses. His model can detect viruses within an hour, and he dreams of taking this product to low-resource areas and hospitals to help support diagnosis and treatment. Nithish wants to be a doctor one day.
Jonathan Salazar
Age: 17
Grade: Junior
School: Trevor G. Browne High School
City: Phoenix
Jonathan is co-founder of SkillsUSA Engineering, a club focused on robotics and 3D technology. He is active in JROTC and has honed his leadership in a summer Cadet Leadership Challenge. He has also participated in the ASU Youth Leadership Association, contributing to the creation and unveiling of two community murals in Maryvale. He maintains a 4.4 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society. Jonathan aspires to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering.
Rishabh Sreepathy
Age: 17
School: Desert Mountain High School
City: Scottsdale
Rishabh is a problem solver. He developed FungiBug, a rapid, handheld blood diagnostic device to make testing for infections more accessible to those living in underserved areas. Additionally, he founded a nonprofit called Learning Minds, that enriches STEM education and increases exposure to STEM fields such as research for students with socioeconomic disadvantages, communication disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and cognitive, speech and developmental delays. Rishabh plans to go to medical school and be a doctor one day.
Gauri Srivastava
Age: 16
Grade: Junior
School: Basis Oro Valley
City: Tucson
Gauri founded MedAspire, a club that provides students with medical-related volunteer experiences, exposure to healthcare campaigns, and educational sessions on various healthcare fields and research projects. She also co-founded the Tucson Student Science Association (TSSA), an organization that connects students and clubs in Tucson to STEM competitions and events, fostering collaboration and innovation in the scientific community. Gauri plans to pursue a career in healthcare as a surgeon.
Brad Wu
Age: 16
Grade: Junior
School: AZ College Prep HS
City: Chandler
Brad’s experience volunteering at a local senior center opened his eyes to the many challenges older adults face, and sparked a passion for using technology to help seniors lead better lives. He developed an exoskeleton robotic system for his school’s science fair to help patients with mobility or fine motor impairments, and founded a nonprofit called GensCura to raise awareness about strokes. He plans to study mechanical or electrical engineering.
Daniel Yang
Age: 16
Grade: Junior
School: Basis Mesa
City: Queen Creek
Daniel created iReach, a tutoring program that allowed older students to provide subject expertise to younger students. Daniel recruited high achieving students to join as tutors and paired hundreds of students together for individual and group tutoring. iReach has provided over 5,000 tutoring hours to students of varying needs. his spare time, Daniel volunteers at Banner Baywood Hospital. He plans to pursue a degree in STEM or medicine.
Elizabeth Young
Age: 16
Grade: Junior
School: Sandra Day O’Connor HS
City: Phoenix
Elizabeth was volunteering at Northwest Chinese Baptist Church when she connected with several Taiwanese immigrant families working with the Taiwanese Semiconductor Facility Plant in Phoenix. When she learned some of the students were struggling to adapt, she launched her own private tutoring business, working with several students a week to hone their English and academic skills. She also started a nonprofit social media handle called “inTHEship,” designed to showcase scholarship, internship and other extracurricular opportunities for high school students, particularly those identified as low income, first generation or minorities. Elizabeth hopes to become a corporate lawyer at the international level and spend time working abroad in China.
