JA to recognize four area students
Four area high school students will be recognized at the Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania (JA) celebratory event to be held Feb. 7 at Acrisure Stadium. They are among 18 Under Eighteen honorees.
Nominees were evaluated in the following categories: leadership, community service, entrepreneurial spirit, extraordinary skill sets, and any talent or intangible qualities that contribute to the nominee’s road to success.
The honorees from Upper St. Clair are: Isaac Bernstein and Kriti Gupta
A junior, Bernstein dreams of eliminating food insecurity.
After learning that cash donations are more valuable to food banks than food drives, he spearheaded an initiative to support the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Since April 2020, he has visited local families dressed as the Grinch and the Easter Bunny, raising enough donations to provide more than 100,000 meals to families in need.
An avid hockey player, Bernstein plays competitively and uses the sport to give back to his community. Hockey Fights Hunger, his most recent event, was a 3-on-3 tournament designed for participants to have fun while raising money for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. The tournament raised 27,000 meals for families in need.
At Upper St. Clair High School, Bernstein is an active leader in student council, works as a peer tutor and serves as a mentor through the Natural Helpers program. This summer, he will travel to Japan as a high school diplomat, a scholarship program that connects students from the United States and Japan.
A sophomore, Gupta is committed to improving youth education for underserved and underfunded communities. After learning about the inequities that remote learning created, she founded Chance to Change Lives (CCL) Kids, a nonprofit organization that helps children who reside in economically disadvantaged communities or experience homelessness.
In 2022, CCL-Kids donated 96 backpacks filled with school supplies to United Elementary School within the McKeesport School District. The organization also delivered hygiene care packages to teenage girls living in Women’s East-Pittsburgh, a local homeless shelter.
Gupta is currently developing a summer reading program for elementary-age students to prevent the summer slide, or the loss of academic skills and knowledge. This academic program will pilot at United Elementary School in McKeesport during the summer.
Passionate about helping others and making positive change within her community, Gupta hopes to extend her outreach efforts to as many shelters and underfunded school districts as possible.
The honorees from South Fayette are Grace Howard and Mohammad Shedeed.
An active member of Triumph Baptist Church, Howard leads multiple outreach efforts for the congregation and community.
In 2020, she spearheaded Covid Love Bags, an initiative to support the senior members of the church during the COVID-19 lockdowns. She and other volunteers packaged bags with hand sanitizer, toilet paper, masks, snacks, scripture, and personal notes and delivered them door-to-door.
Howard is active in multiple extracurricular activities, including SF’s teen mental health wellness club STAND TOGETHER and the student government wellness committee. She serves as senior class vice president, She is also captain of the track team. She won the WPIAL high jump championship and placed sixth overall in the state.
As a child of first-generation immigrants from the Middle East, Shedeed is motivated to end the status quo and stigma surrounding mental health for first- and second-generation immigrants of Middle Eastern origins.
Shedeed is the co-chair for SHOUT (Social Handprints Overcoming Unjust Treatment). Through SHOUT-run events, he develops awareness and acceptance events to bring his district together.
At a state level, he is part of the Pennsylvania Youth Advocacy Network, where he, along with other members, spent nearly a year writing and perfecting a proclamation recognizing Teen Mental Health Day on May 22.
At a national level, he works with Work2BeWell, an organization that focuses on de-stigmatizing mental health and promoting mental health resources. As part of his leadership role on the education team, he created a podcast series called Talk2Be, which discusses relevant mental health topics for teens.
On a world scale, Shedeed was recently selected to be one of three ambassadors from the United States to serve on the International Adolescent Health Week Network with representatives from 25 different countries.
In his free time, Shedeed volunteers helping refugees and youth programs. He plans to major in neuroscience in college as he strives to be a psychiatrist one day. His goal is to know why there was an epidemic in mental health and how to resolve it.
Nominations for JA’s 18 Under Eighteen were cast throughout Western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. A diverse committee of community members reviewed each nomination and interviewed finalists to become the select 18.
Tickets to the event are $40 for adults and $20 for students. Deadline for reservations is Feb. 3.
Visit:secure.qgiv.com/for/18undereighteen2023/event/18undereighteen2023/ for details.