WASHINGTON: Four young Indian Americans have been named among the 10 honourees on the White House’s prestigious 2024 “Girls Leading Change” list, celebrating their remarkable contributions to their communities. The recognition, announced by First Lady Jill Biden on October 10 at a ceremony held at the White House, coinciding with International Day of the Girl.
Selected by the White House Gender Policy Council, the honorees were recognised for their leadership and innovation in areas such as education, digital safety, STEM accessibility, and healthcare. Dr Biden, a longtime advocate for youth empowerment, praised the young leaders, saying, These incredible honourees are meeting the challenges they see in the world by developing innovative new technologies, expanding access to education, erasing silence through the power of art and poetry, and more.”
Among the honourees are:
Sreenidi Bala, 16, a passionate advocate for expanding STEM education to neurodivergent students. After identifying a gap in her school district, she created ASPIRE Adaptive STEM, an elective that offers tailored STEM lessons for students with learning disabilities. She also founded Code for All Minds, an online platform that provides educators and families with free, adaptive technology lessons. Her initiative has reached schools across the country through partnerships with neurodiversity advocacy groups.
Pragathi Kasani-Akula, 17, a young scientist developing accessible healthcare solutions. Inspired by her mother’s breast cancer battle, Pragathi created a low-cost, non-invasive prototype to detect triple-negative breast cancer. During the pandemic, she also taught an epidemiology course to students nationwide through the Scio Virtual Foundation, promoting public health education.
Meghna “Chili” Pramoda, 17, and Siona “Dolly” Pramoda, 16, are digital safety advocates and co-founders of Sites Online (STO), an organisation that educates teens worldwide about safe online practices. Their work has empowered over 5 million teens through campaigns, surveys, and research on internet usage and cyber safety. Seeing the impact of the digital divide during the pandemic, they expanded their efforts to include digital literacy for parents, teachers, and seniors.
