Sarah, 19 years old

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Sarah’s ability, grit, and accomplishments are simply astonishing. Realizing how much peer tutoring had helped with her own academic work while she was in foster care, when she was in high school, Sarah formed a 501c3 nonprofit to give peer-to-peer academic help to students impacted by the child welfare system. Recruiting peer tutors from other high schools, Achillea Peer Tutoring worked with 200 students from 20 foster care agencies last year and has expanded into 30 states. Sarah combines outstanding entrepreneurial abilities with unusual creativity. She is a budding screenwriter, using award money (some in contests with adults) to learn all about the screenwriting process, including the business and technical sides. Anxious to get to college, Sarah completed her demanding high school a year early. “Her limitless potential,” her high school college counselor wrote, “is built on her stout refusal to allow the hardships she has faced to ever interfere with her aspirations.”

Sarah, a full-time college student and founder of a nonprofit, recently got a cat for emotional support to help with her anxiety. With her schedule and often having others check in on the cat, Sarah is looking for a litter box that takes care of itself so that she can keep that cat happy and her time focused on classes, work, and special time with her cat.