Taylor Richardson, 18
Known to her online followers as Astronaut Starbright, Richardson has always had a fascination with the cosmos. But at 9, while attending space camp, she realized she was the only Black girl — a pivotal moment that sparked a commitment to diversifying STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. "Other girls need to know they can be astronauts," says the high school senior from Jacksonville, Florida. To date she has raised more than $325,000 to introduce young women of color to science via space camp scholarships, book drives centered on Black authors and subjects, and tickets to films like Hidden Figures.
Naudia Greenawalt, 12
When Greenawalt's friend Linkin Eger (right) needed chemotherapy for a brain tumor in 2017, she decided to write a book about him to cheer him up and help them both better understand the journey ahead. Greenawalt and her family published and sold 1,000 copies of My Friend Linkin to schools, libraries and their neighbors in New Berlin, Wisconsin, raising $5,000 to assist with Eger's medical bills. The success inspired them to launch the nonprofit My Friend Linkin; she and Eger (whose condition is currently stable) have now published five books, adopting a pay-it-forward model in which the subject of the previous book, if able, authors the next.
Sammie Vance, 12
Four years ago Vance discovered a surefire way to find your purpose: Ask yourself what breaks your heart. "For me, it's seeing people who need a friend," says the seventh grader from Fort Wayne, Indiana. "I've been lonely myself. I don't want others to feel that way." After speaking to her principal and pitching the PTA, she launched Sammie's Buddy Bench Project, a community-wide drive that collected 1,600 lbs. of bottle caps, which were recycled into three buddy benches. Today her efforts continue, with more than 200 benches donated to schools and parks in the U.S., Mexico and Australia.
Harshini Anand, 17
While researching a community service project for school, Anand read about a woman buried in medical debt from a car crash. "She wished she'd never made it out of the hospital," recalls the high school senior from Ypsilanti, Michigan. "It was so jarring to see the system pushing people to those negative thoughts." When the pandemic hit, the school assignment was canceled — so Anand forged ahead on her own, fundraising, writing letters, calling local businesses and reaching out to friends. In June she hit her $15,000 goal, which the national nonprofit RIP Medical Debt used to help erase $1.8 million in her home state.
Brooke and Breanna Bennett, 14
The twin sisters from Montgomery, Alabama, remember the "heartbreaking" moment they first recognized "period poverty," the inadequate access to feminine hygiene products. Waiting for their mother where she taught school, they saw students ask for pads and tampons, because otherwise they had to resort to socks or tissues. After doing more research and learning that one in five young women in the U.S. struggles to afford menstrual products (which are not covered by welfare programs like SNAP), the Bennetts, now Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes award winners, founded Women in Training, Inc.