2009 Tomorrow25

Ayna Agarwal
Colonia, New Jersey — Wardlaw-Hartridge School
- Founder and executive director of Stop Pet Overpopulation Together Globally, a nonprofit organization that helps fund animal sterilizations, facility expansions and education
- Member of the Humane Teen Advisory Board
- Volunteers at a local animal hospital and shelter
- Selected as one of CNN’s "Young People Who Rock"
- Writing a children's book about community animal welfare
Arvin Ahmadi
Centreville, Virginia — Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
- Elected the student representative (non-voting member) of the Fairfax County School Board, representing more than 169,000 students
- Initiated the Environmental Stewardship Project to improve eco-efficiency in county schools
- Serves as news editor for his school's newspaper, tjTODAY, for which he has contributed in-depth and investigative reporting
- Completed a summer fellowship with Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
- Interned for Virginia Delegate Chuck Caputo
Adejire Bademosi
Woodstock, Maryland — Marriotts Ridge High School
- Voting student member of the Howard County Board of Education
- Launched a "Protect Our Kids" campaign to educate the Maryland community on the dangers of Internet sex offenders and flaws in the offender registration system
- Serves as a mentor in the Marriotts Ridge High School Leadership Academy, tutoring and mentoring students during two class periods daily; started a scholarship program benefiting students in the Leadership Academy
- Worked with students to create and implement the Change Matters Campaign, raising $5,000 for Howard County's sole homeless shelter; has replicated the campaign at her high school to raise money for the shelter
Burak Basogul
Istanbul, Turkey — The Koc School
- Founder of The Koc School's European Youth Parliament Club
- Producing a booklet providing the community with balanced information about the Israel-Palestine conflict; arranged a trip to Israel to meet with the Israeli consulate, Israeli authorities and Palestinian individuals
- Initiated a tutoring program in which children from surrounding rural communities work with Koc School students
- Studying for the International Baccalaureate Diploma and the Turkish High School Diploma in the science track
- Student Council president during his preparatory, ninth, 10th and 11th grade years
Evaline Cheng
Sunnyvale, California — Lynbrook High School
- Created a research project using the ion chromatograph to study the effects of different cooking methods on antioxidant levels in vegetables
- Conducted research to determine the effect of ultrafine iron soot particles on the nasal tissue of mice with the aim of understanding how humans are affected by pollutants
- Planned and executed Lynbrook High School's first Hepatitis B Awareness Week
- Served as the youngest assistant team leader at the sixth annual national Youth Leadership Conference at Stanford University
- Member of the Jade Ribbon Youth Council
- Volunteer at Stanford University's Asian Liver Center; frequently translates for Mandarin-speaking patients
Justin Chung
Fort Lee, New Jersey — Bergen County Academies
- Volunteered at Weil Bugando Hospital and Forever Angels Orphanage in Tanzania
- President of Habitat for Humanity club
- Currently conducting biomedical research on radiation oncology at Columbia University
- Tutors math, science and guitar
- Conducted to-be-published research at the Stevens Institute of Technology on human-robot interaction with the aim of creating a technology that can improve communication between the robot and operator
- Organized Rock the House, a benefit concert to raise money for the homeless
Patrick Colangelo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada — St. Michael’s College School
- Founder and president of his school's Historical Society, Historical Review Newsletter, and the first and only National History Club Chapter in Canada
- Founder and president of Free Student TutorsTM, Canada's first and only free high school student tutoring service for the younger student community
- Published author and poet
- Three-time winner of the Basilian Scholarship and the Edmond Odette Scholarship; among other awards and honors also was named the top English student in his grade and will receive the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award in August 2009
- Varsity soccer player for his school's team and captain of his premier soccer team
Taylor Crosby
Houma, Louisiana — Vandebilt Catholic High School
- Selected by her school for Tulane University's Focus Louisiana Book Award
- Helped plan, organize and implement food drives, day camps, and teen gatherings for hurricane victims as a volunteer member of the North American Mission Board
- Starting player for the Vandebilt basketball team
- Two-time All-District member of the Vandebilt track team
- Received first place in the Voices of Democracy Regional Oratorical Competition
Stephanie Damascus
Greenwich, Connecticut — King Low Heywood Thomas School
- Founder and director of Pics & Edges, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for the group Figure Skating in Harlem; since 2006 she has helped raise more than $10,000
- United States Figure Skating Association gold medalist
- Member of the Skyliners Team USA Synchronized Skating Team for 2008 and 2009
- Captain of the girls golf team at King Low Heywood Thomas
- Received the Outstanding Citizenship Award from her school
Mateus Falci
Coral Springs, Florida — American Heritage School
- President of One Planet United Club; created and implemented an International Day of Peace Assembly to promote student awareness of global issues
- Youngest member of the organizing committee for his city's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
- Traveled to Peru with Global Impact Volunteer Expeditions to help increase literacy in small Andes villages
- Recipient of the President's Volunteer Service Award for his work organizing drives to collect food, shoes and personal hygiene items for homeless individuals in his county
- Student editor of Teenlink, a local teen newspaper
- Speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese
Gerard Fischetti
Campbell Hall, New York — Washingtonville High School
- Spearheaded a "Flapjack Fundraiser" that raised nearly $1,000 for Habitat for Humanity; coordinates student volunteers to build houses with the organization
- Started a human rights initiative, in conjunction with the Community Service Club, to address global humanitarian issues and organized a "Save Darfur" letter-writing campaign to spread awareness about genocidal events
- Captain of the Math Team, which recently won its first Sectional Championship in nine years
- Led a Young Musicians group in performing classical music at nursing and adult homes
- Competed in numerous New York State School Music Association solo evaluations as a trombone player; selected for Area All-State and statewide ensembles
Ghassan Gammoh
Manja-Madaba, Jordan — King's Academy
- Raised awareness of and collected $20,000 in donations for the Terry Fox Cancer Foundation through a door-to-door campaign
- Helped raise more than $10,000 for UNICEF in Baghdad and Darfur
- Received the International Award from The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth
- Created a community garden at his academy, improving sustainability and saving the school thousands of dollars per year
- Hosted two Empower Peace online conferences with U.S. schools to narrow the gap between different cultures
- Attended the 2008 Petra Conference of Nobel Laureates as a youth participant, joining in discussions on creating a sustainable future in the Mideast region in which Israelis and Palestinians can co-exist
Timothy Hwang
North Potomac, Maryland — Thomas S. Wootton High School
- Established and directs Operation Fly, a nonprofit organization serving the inner-city population in cities across the nation by coordinating banquets, scholarships, and literacy programs for homeless and underprivileged individuals
- Served as regional field director of Students for Barack Obama and deputy mid-Atlantic director for the Young Democrats of America; helped organize overnight student campaigning trips
- Campaigned for and worked with Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Congresswoman Donna Edwards, and Congressman Frank Kratovil
- Founded and served as the executive director of the Maryland Association of Asian American Students, training student leaders and helping them become politically and socially active in their communities
Constantine Kanellopoulos
Athens, Greece — American Community Schools
- Awarded the Grand Prize in the Dean's Essay Contest while attending the 2008 Harvard Summer School for high school students
- Founded and serves as president of Forum for the Union of the Mediterranean, a nongovernmental organization working with the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs to unite Mediterranean-bordering countries to tackle major environmental issues
- Participated in the second International Student Forum for Olympic Truce in 2008 in Greece
- Took part in The Economist 2009 Sustainability Summit in London
- Attended the 2009 Climate Change Congress in Copenhagen, organized by the International Alliance of Research Universities and the University of Copenhagen
Rebecca Kantar
Newton, Massachusetts — Newton North High School
- Held Minga's Art Celebration to help raise more than $65,000 for Minga, a youth-run nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the child sex trade
- Designer, head planner, overseer, and press representative for Minga's largest campaign, "Definition: Childhood," which will juxtapose two million people's definitions of childhood with those of a child sex slave
- Presented at the Kids Risk Symposium at Harvard University and the Clinton Global Initiatives Conference where she discussed the epidemic of child sex slavery with world leaders
- Coordinating efforts to increase academic focus on slavery issues in cooperation with Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves and Pulitzer Prize nominee; local university students; professors; and nonprofits
- Volunteers to teach swimming to children with disabilities, coach soccer for young girls, and educate coaches on the importance of injury prevention training
Vidur Khatri
Norwood, Massachusetts — Xaverian Brothers High School
- Founding member of his school's Ryken Global Awareness Committee
- Helped organize "Rock for Kenya," a charitable concert benefiting a Kenyan school
- Coordinated charitable drive for Plumpy'nut, a peanut-butter-based food used to fight malnutrition in impoverished countries; created promotional materials, developed an online advertising campaign and recruited volunteers to build attendance and participation
- Led a team of students in developing a hydrogen generator using water in an effort to find future sources of energy
- Started a business to make textbooks more affordable for fellow students
Samuel Kornicks
Vero Beach, Florida — Vero Beach High School
- Received fourth place Grand Award in Applied Mathematics at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his invention of a mathematical model that distinguishes cancer from noncancer cells; competed against 1,500 students from 40 countries
- Member of the second-ranked team in the University of Florida's Biology Bowl; selected as one of five students in his county to compete in statewide academic games
- Captain of the Vero Beach High School varsity tennis team; played number one varsity singles and doubles since ninth grade, earning All-Conference Honorable Mentions two consecutive years
- Developed Hometown Barbecue Sauce, which is sold locally
Charlene Lee
Walnut, California — Walnut High School
- Served as state vice president of the California Association of Student Councils, leading local-level programs and coordinating yearly programs that provide leadership training to more than 3,000 students
- Interned with then Congresswoman Hilda Solis, now the U.S. Secretary of Labor
- Chairperson of the Walnut Youth Advisory Committee, helping represent the youth voice to City Council; also heads youth volunteer projects and coordinated largest book drive in her city
- Published photography and 16 articles, two focusing on California's education system, in Imagine Magazine, L.A. Youth and The Nation
- National semi-finalist and Junior Teen California state finalist for the 2008 National American Miss Pageant
Jessica Li
Carlisle, Massachusetts — Concord-Carlisle High School
- Founder and president of A Thousand Wings, a student-run fundraising organization whose mission is to raise money for poor schools in rural areas of Wuhan, China
- Organized the first A Thousand Wings overseas mission trip to rural China, donating 10,000 Chinese yuan; their donations provided Haier Hope Elementary School with new computers, an audio broadcast system, supplies, and scholarships
- Hosted 2008 Olympics festival and cultural exchange in Wuhan, China, focusing on the significance of the 2008 Olympics to Chinese-American students
- Received second place in the 2007 International Youth Root-Seeking and Chinese Essay Competition as the U.S. representative
- Received first place at the 2008 U.S. Youth Chinese Composition Contest; also appeared on China's Phoenix TV broadcasting channel
Jonathan Liu
East Brunswick, New Jersey — Phillips Academy Andover
- Created Let Our Dreams Fly, through which he donated more than 100 books to start a library at the Qiucheng School in rural China; plans to return to the school this summer to help teach students English
- Participates in a number of clubs and community service groups: the Asian Society, International Club, Chinese Taiwan Student Association, Andover Japanese Connection, Andover Korean Society, Chess Club, and the Andover Chinese Cultural Outreach
- Volunteers regularly at a local hospital
- Serves as a tour guide at his school
- Member of the Phillips Academy Andover junior varsity one squash team
Samita Mohanasundaram
Nashua, New Hampshire — Nashua High School North
- Founded Help Others Corporation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging people worldwide to make a difference
- Launched Children's Day, in conjunction with the Help Others Corporation, to recognize, educate and inspire children across the country
- Developed web sites for Children's Day and Help Others Corporation
- Coordinated community book and school supply drives, collecting more than 12,000 books
- Runs her own business teaching piano and dance; performs the traditional Indian dance "Bharathanatyam"
Zachary Morrison
Sarasota, Florida — Pine View School
- Active board member of the Superintendent's Advisory Council, responsible for selecting and supervising peers to represent his school at the County Superintendent Forum
- Founded the Pine View Students for Obama: Campaign for Change Club; recruited more than 30 high school students to help conduct voter registration drives, weekly canvasses and phone banks; also supervised 80 teen volunteers at a Sarasota Obama rally
- Initiated a semi-annual pingpong tournament for fifth- and sixth-grade students to raise funds for the Sarasota County Special Olympics and the Save Darfur Club
- Serving as vice president of the Florida Business Leaders of America Club, organized fundraisers and coordinated the district competition; received third place in Marketing in the district competition and second place in Hospitality Management at state leadership conference
Gorick Ng
Toronto, Ontario, Canada — Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute
- Director of Operations for the Ontario Student Trustees Association, an organization representing his province's two million students and works with the Ministry of Education and stakeholders to advance the student vision
- Elected to represent 270,000 students as student trustee of the Toronto District School Board, advocating on behalf of students in Canada's largest school board
- Student ambassador for the Toronto Foundation for Student Success, recruiting, training and leading volunteers in the annual Feeding Toronto's Hungry Students Week, which raises funds for school nutritional programs citywide
- Vice president of his school's student council, representing 1,800 students
Kelsey Petrie
Seekonk, Massachusetts — St. Mary Academy-Bay View
- Developed a recycling program and wrote a 10-year environmental plan for her academy
- Founded the Help Our Planet Earth Club for students of all ages to learn ways of reducing their impact on the planet
- Organized an Environmental Fair that brought organizations, universities, and city and state agencies to her campus to teach community solutions to environmental concerns
- Created a teen group to work with Greenlight Rhode Island, a partnership of Brown University's Project 20/20 and Wal-Mart, to install energy efficient light bulbs in the homes of low-income residents
- Won First Grant at the Rhode Island State Science and Engineering Fair, as well as awards from the Office of Naval Research, Mystic Aquarium Institute, the U.S. Air Force, and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center for her freshman project on oil containment booms for impoverished countries
- Named the Earth Day Rhode Island Young Environmentalist of the Year
David Sanchez
Racine, Wisconsin — The Prairie School
- As an officer of the Key Club, developed an Easter Shoebox Project to benefit children of 150 low-income families in his hometown
- Led a team of his peers in producing a documentary on sustainability
- Currently is serving in his second year as a National Youth Advisory Board Member for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, participating as a speaker, producing videos about food choices and physical activity, and offering a youth perspective on issues such as branding and marketing
- After being awarded a grant to study the issue of homelessness, raised $10,000 to begin Job-Link Racine, an initiative that matches homeless teenagers with part-time jobs
- As an Eagle Scout, refurbished a room in a homeless shelter, a project that took 168 hours to complete


