The Congressional Award Podcast: Elevating DC Youth Café Radio Podcast

Nikhil is an amazing example of an individual who has taken the time to choose the right path for themselves. He began his career path in engineering like his father but quickly switched his path to the medical field when he discovered his love of biology and anatomy. In his senior year of undergrad at Clarke University he was accepted to four medical school programs but decided instead to take the LSAT so he could explore the Law of Science. He believes this will allow him to combine his passion for biology and the medical field, with his passion for advocacy. He will be attending Northwestern Law School in the Fall. As a side hobby he is a fashion designer with his own Instagram and blog where he promotes fashion, diversity, and inclusivity.

Currently in her senior year of High School, Medhnaa was inspired at the age of seven to begin raising funds for the Bal Ashram orphanage in India after a visit with her family. During her first fundraiser she raised $4K for the orphanage and began hosting more bake sales and reaching out to donors. She started her own Foundation called Touch of Life which has helped pass bills, work towards advocacy outreach, and has raised over $300,000 for the orphanage. She has a passion for STEM and has volunteered hours towards helping students in India learn robotics, math, and coding. She sees her accomplishments as an extension of her ADHD diagnosis and believes that it is a large motivator in the work she has done. She hopes that more people see it as a positive rather than a negative.

Alexis began her award journey when a mentor at Beaches Habitat told her about the program and signed her up. Through this mentor she was able to work with multiple students at all levels of the Award and grow as an individual as well as network with her peers. During her Award journey she was able to work with the nonprofit Junior Achievement, where she was able to reach her personal development goals by focusing on financial literacy and business development. Because of this focus on business and financial literacy, she has been inspired to one day start her own business. After the Award she studied communications at the University of North Florida and began her career in public relations and nonprofits. She is now working as an executive assistant at a Corporate SolutionsTech which was inspired by her STEM Star Award. To her the mentorship aspect of the Award was what made it the most meaningful and she is grateful someone saw and encouraged her potential.

Before obtaining his LLM in Trial Advocacy, Christopher attended the University of Delaware for political science and Villanova for law school. His past experiences include interning for Vice President Joe Biden, working as a judicial clerk, and being an adjunct professor of law at the Delaware Law School. His award journey began in the eighth grade when he took on the self-motivated initiative to find a program that would highlight all the activities he was already doing. His award experience was key to helping him in his future career and he has discussed the experience before in interviews and on resumes. He hopes to either become a lawyer in Philadelphia or work on the White House Counsel in the Fall.

During her time as a participant of the Award, Bailey lived in Kansas City before completing her BFA in Recorded Music at NYU. The Award motivated her to continue into adulthood her work on Award program pillars such as physical fitness through tennis, personal development through music, and volunteerism through her local junior league. Her love for music has led her to become the Music Licensing Specialist for The Tonight Show where she oversees all the music licensing for the show. Without the Award giving her the motivation to continue her love for music, she may not have decided to go into the music industry.

Originally for Los Angeles, Bonnie now lives in Seattle where she has held multiple positions within Microsoft. In her current role she works on the environmental sustainability team where she focuses on corporate environmental strategy. This career path stems from her love for biology and her want to make an impact through conservation. Before Microsoft, she trained as a conservation biologist, in which she was recognized as a National Geographic Explorer for her work in environmental education. Previously, she helped initiate the marine program for the Wildlife Conservation Society in Myanmar, discovered a new sea slug species in the Caribbean, and researched climate adaptation of endangered penguins in South Africa. Bonnie received her B.A. in organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University and was an inaugural Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University.