Faith Omoruyi | Houston, TX

Faith Omoruyi is a scholar, advocate, and leader guided by the belief that circumstances should never determine a person's future. The  daughter of immigrant parents, she learned that perseverance is built through sacrifice, discipline, and faith. In serving the community, leading peers, or pursuing academic excellence, Faith approaches every opportunity to achieve success for herself and create opportunities for others.

Faith served as Vice President of her school's Speech and Debate team, using public speaking to advocate for underserved communities. She co-founded the Medical Association of Future Physicians, one of the first clubs at her High School to expand access to medical career exploration for students from underrepresented backgrounds. As President of Science National Honor Society, she led blood drives, STEM tutoring programs, and science outreach events.  In AliefVotes, she organized  youth voter registration drives, civic engagement forums, and service projects. 

Faith’s performance has earned her recognition at the National Speech and Debate Tournament, the National Harvard Tournament, and the NIETOC Tournament of Champions. Faith has also earned awards in Scholastic Writing and the regional Science and Engineering Fair. She has conducted cell biology research, and mentors younger students to build confidence in writing, research, and public speaking. 

When her family survived a devastating house fire that left them homeless for months, she transformed hardship into service by organizing donation drives that raised over $10,000 for families experiencing housing insecurity. Faith is committed to advancing health equity and civic engagement through a career in medicine and public policy, empowering underserved communities and creating opportunities for future generations.

Esther Lee | Garden Grove, CA

Esther is highly determined and resilient, working to find the best in every situation despite the challenges she has faced. Knowing how hard her parents work, she wants to work hard for herself and for them. Seeing her community’s smiles fuels her passion for healthcare, work she hopes to continue amplifying as a compassionate leader.

Esther is most proud of her work with HOSA-Future Health Professionals, where she has provided medical opportunities to help her community, such as helping students learn about different health professions and volunteer opportunities at a local health clinic. Through Key Club, she coordinates volunteer events from food banks to card-making for seniors. In addition, volunteering at the hospital has allowed her to assist with patient discharges and provide escorts, sharing moments of relief with compassion.

Additionally, Esther has been involved in multiple innovative science competitions, notably Exploravision where she earned a national honorable mention on her science research paper about an accessible, eco-friendly battery. She also loves expressing herself creatively, which can be seen through her film on coastal cultures and traditions which she entered into a local film festival, and, together with her partner, won a second-place silver award!

Based on her family’s financial and medical struggles, Esther hopes to pursue a career in the medical field. She hopes to ensure everyone is able to get the care they need. 

Emily Diaz | Tustin, CA

Hailing from a first-generation, low-income background, Emily is a driven and enthusiastic advocate who amplifies student voices from across California and the nation. Emily strives to exemplify service above self while fostering the next generation of student leaders. 

Emily is most proud of the transformative initiatives she’s fostered as the statewide Communications Director at the California High School Democrats. She’s built mentorship programs connecting high school girls to political organizing professionals and has fostered youth political engagement as the sole Orange County Mental Health Policy Fellow with the Youth Leadership Institute, conducting community research to expand the Behavioral Health Services Act while advocating against cuts to youth mental health programs. 

Emily also leads both congressional and supervisorial campaigns, crafting brand identity, capturing social media content, and securing PAC endorsements for candidates. She empowers young girls in politics by interning with IGNITE National, organizing lobby days at the California capitol and running local voter registration drives. At school, Emily is the head fundraising chair for her bronze-medalling Colorguard ensemble and Secretary-General of Committees for her school’s Model UN program. In her community, Emily drives youth involvement as the sole Teen Advisory Board Volunteer Leader at her city library. She is a proud 8x Recognized Carson Scholar, Simon Scholar, and is the current Distinguished Young Woman of Tustin. 

Emily is inspired by her Mexican and El Salvadorean heritage which motivates her to advance feminism for underserved minorities. Emily aspires to amplify her community as an Immigration attorney before running for the California State Assembly. 

Emanuel Xocua | Garden Grove, CA

Emanuel Xocua Dimayuga is a first-generation student from the diverse community of Garden Grove, California. Enduring challenges throughout his childhood, he strives to succeed personally and academically, and translate his life lessons into improving his community.  

Emanuel is particularly passionate about bridging ethnic health inequalities. As a freshman, he joined his school’s Red Cross club hoping to contribute to the organization’s humanitarian mission. Later, as club president, he organized blood drives for local medical centers, nonprofits, and community organizations. Emanuel also focuses on fundraising with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 

Through his Internship in the Medical Intelligence and Innovation Institute (Mi4) at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), Emanuel identified how financial constraints prevent some populations from accessing personalized treatments. He proposed an AI-driven solution that would help more communities access nanomedicine. His work was presented at AIMed, an international conference for medicine.  

From these experiences, Emanuel founded MedHealth, a school-wide organization that leads health awareness campaigns, addressing misconceptions about healthcare and reducing stigmas in underserved communities. Through Medhealth, he has partnered with a local nonprofit nursing home to introduce students to the medical realm, mobilizing his community to make change. He says about his efforts, “I know how challenging seeking care can be, especially when your own family stigmatizes it. Ensuring these misunderstandings are addressed will help people access the care they deserve.” 

Even though Emanuel continues to face challenges growing up in an immigrant community, he uses them to fuel his passion challenging inequities. Emanuel doesn’t just want to make an impact; he wants it to last. 

Elizaveta Kutyeva | Holland, PA

Elizaveta is creative and motivated, pursuing everything from molecular dynamics to organic chemistry and fine arts. She leads by example and loves life, striving to make the most of every moment while making life better and creating  support systems for her community. 

Elizaveta’s impact can be felt in theatre, where she has worked as costume team head, program designer, and stage manager. Elizaveta is part of her school’s choir and select ensembles, and will serve as librarian for the 26-27 school year. She is also editor-in-chief and layout editor of her school’s newspaper. 

Furthermore, Elizaveta is active in the sciences. Her greatest interests are microbiology, computational chemistry, and organic chemistry. She regularly spends her free time reading scientific articles and thinking of new ways to optimize working with bacteria. Her independent engineering project, PyBRANE, is her way to contribute to the field of computational chemistry. Through this app, she aims to make the field more accessible to beginners and lower the barrier to learning through interesting tools. She also volunteers as an informal, free-of-charge tutor for her classmates. 

Elizaveta intends  to become a pharmaceutical researcher/project manager. She loves to help people stay on track and create better organizational systems to achieve improved outcomes. She believes this career will help her make a difference in people’s lives.