Beimnet Amanuel
Johnston High School, Johnston
Student Success Center
During her junior year, Beimnet witnessed peers falling behind in a system that lacked comprehensive academic support. Fueled by her own experiences as a proud daughter of immigrant parents and her value for education, she focused her project around promoting student success across Johnston High School by collaborating with staff and peer tutors to develop a successful peer tutoring program.
Siddhi Bharadwaj
Pleasant Valley High School, Bettendorf
Fe for Female
Through Fe for Female, Siddhi aims to spread iron deficiency awareness among women in hopes of improving their well-being. She started the Fe for Female podcast featuring experts who have experience working with iron deficiency, posted informational infographics in her school and local small businesses, discussed with professionals, and created a website. She’s excited to continue spreading iron deficiency awareness.
Angel Garcia Castro
Regina High School, Iowa City
A World of Sights and Sounds
The project centered on creating a children’s book to spread awareness about kids with disabilities to make them feel more comfortable. The project is still in the early stages, with a storyline and main characters. The illustrations are still being determined and an artist is still being looked for.
Aniya Gates
Bettendorf High School, Bettendorf
TheraTreats
TheraTreats is a nonprofit bakery where every dessert is mental health–themed and serves a greater purpose: fully funding free teen group therapy sessions. Facilitated locally by licensed professionals, these sessions support underprivileged youth in building resilience and hope, while using the comfort of food to spark change and foster a brighter future.
Kaden Good
East Marshall High School, Marshalltown
Community Renewal Projects
The Marshall County Volunteers focus on helping to renew their community through volunteer work. They tear down and build new attractions within the community, restore and clean up their community, and offer opportunities for all members of the community, especially for up and coming generations to give them the best possible future and childhood opportunities.
Ellie Huebner
Fort Madison High School, Fort Madison
Six Essentials for Sixth Grade
Six Essentials for Sixth Grade is a community project created by Ellie Huebner to support local sixth-grade girls through hygiene education and access. By assembling and distributing hygiene kits, the project promotes confidence, dignity, and health awareness while addressing financial barriers. Ellie’s goal is to empower students and inspire continued community involvement in future years.
Gracie Hutchins
Waukee Northwest High School, Urbandale
American Sign Language Software Interpreter
InterpASL is a software created to interpret American Sign Language (ASL) into English. The software takes the person’s signing webcam feed and translates it into English Subtitles. The project aims to help people who use ASL for more accessibility when interpreters are not available. Future project goals hope to implement multi-language support, Zoom integration, improved accuracy, and more vocabulary.
Kalya Kothavale
Waukee Northwest High School, Clive
Tech Time with Friends
Tech Time with Friends is a technology literacy program designed for senior citizens living at retirement communities. Kalya leads short presentations on topics like internet fraud, storage and email use. Afterwards, his team of high school volunteers help residents with individual technology issues. Helping seniors learn about technology is valuable, but seeing them smile and tell stories is even better.
Ethan Meyer
Liberty High School, North Liberty
Stewards of Iowa: A Documentary by Ethan Meyer
A video documentary showcasing the National Park Service sites in the state of Iowa, It includes interviews of rangers and volunteers and explores the history of the park service, and the stories they tell. The goal is to promote volunteerism for the National Park Service and show it’s benefits for the volunteer at the site they serve.
Genesis Morelos
Storm Lake High School, Alta
Know Your Rights: Legal & Notary Clinic
This project is a series of legal aid and notary clinics, specifically for diverse and low-income families who find it difficult to access free/low-cost legal services. Within the clinics, notaries will notarize different documents such as guardianship, property, and asset documents, while lawyers provide legal advice, contact information, and the possibility of taking on a case or a couple.
Erich Nguyen
Linn-Mar High School, Marion
Coding for a Cause
Coding for a Cause aims to expand computer science education for youth in the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area by offering free programming classes and workshops at local schools and libraries. This project focuses on practical, text-based programming to bridge the education gap in CS and empower the next generation to explore their future careers in STEM.
Divya Ramadugu
John F. Kennedy High School, Cedar Rapids
Blossom of Hope
Benny’s Blossom of Hope is a self-published children’s book written and developed by Kennedy High School senior Divya Ramadugu through the Herbert Hoover Presidential Foundation’s Uncommon Student Award. The book inspires environmental awareness and hope in young readers through the story of a bear who learns how small acts can help the planet grow brighter.
Shanza Sami
Iowa City West Hight School, Iowa City
SPECO: Environmental Solutions + Education
SPECO is an environmental initiative advancing emission reduction in Iowa through affordable computational tools; also developed emissions tracking tools under Stanford AI Lab. SPECO has a community education branch via STEM for Youth, impacting 600+ students with 100+ volunteers, 15 events and STEM kits. Partnerships and legislative outreach aim to bridge STEM education gaps across rural and urban Iowan communities.
Natalie Schroeder
Calamus-Wheatland High School, Dixon
Agriculture Videos for Elementary Students
“Chat with Nat” is a series of short, engaging educational agriculture videos created by Natalie and community volunteers for elementary students (PK-6). She develops topics, writes scripts, films, edits, and distributes videos to hundreds of students in three school districts—Cedar, Scott, and Clinton counties—also incorporating AI-generated quizzes and video-themed prizes to boost participation and learning.
Henry Zou
Johnston High School, Johnston
DeGLS—AI Assisted Detection System for Gray Leaf Spot Disease
Crop disease is a significant factor that affects Iowans. Henry’s project utilizes a machine learning integrated system to detect and quantify severity of gray leaf spot disease on corn leaves. Conventional methods of assessing gray leaf spot severity are labor intensive, subjective and inaccurate. By using AI, farmers will have a reliable tool for automated disease assessment.