Tri-Valley Youth Leading the Way in Innovation and Equality

Tri-Valley Youth Leading the Way in Innovation and Equality

Eleven local visionaries honored with DreamMakers & RiskTakers Awards

PLEASANTON, Calif. – November 1, 2023 The Tri-Valley region’s innovative spirit is thriving, and its young residents are at the forefront of driving positive change. On Tuesday, November 7th, business leaders, influencers, and elected officials will convene at Dublin’s Shannon Community Center to celebrate the 2023 Tri-Valley DreamMakers & RiskTakers. The event, now in its 13th year, spotlights the exceptional accomplishments of eleven outstanding young individuals who are transforming their communities through innovation, creativity, and empathy.

Stephanie Beasly, Executive Strategy at Sandia National Laboratories and Chair of Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group Board, along with Dr. Dyrell Foster, President of Las Positas College and Vice-Chair of the board, will host the awards ceremony. This event will honor these exceptional young thought leaders who are pioneering groundbreaking projects.

“The region’s national research laboratories, top-tier school districts, and innovation-driven economy have nurtured a culture of curiosity, inspiring our students to take risks, think big, and to act locally” says Katie Marcel, CEO of Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group.

DUBLIN UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Dublin High School
Arjun Karur-Parekh

For the past three years, Arjun Karur-Parekh has led Gardeners of the Galaxy, a revolutionary program connecting the Dublin Unified School District students to their environment by growing and including microgreens in school lunches. Through a partnership with Fertile Groundworks, Gardeners of the Galaxy now provides microgreens to feed the community by donating to Culinary Angels and Tri-Valley Haven.

LAS POSITAS COLLEGE
Daniel Santoyo

Daniel Santoyo has profoundly influenced Las Positas College’s Tutoring Center processes by developing data visualization platforms using key performance indicators for student retention and satisfaction.  Taking his knowledge and experience beyond the Tutoring Center, Daniel spent last summer conducting bioinformatics research on mice RNA sequences as a research fellow at UC Merced.

LIVERMORE VALLEY JOINT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Granada High School
Trenton Thomsen

A social innovator with a commitment to combating hate, Trenton’s extensive range of projects, programs and accomplishments drive positive change. From participating in the ACLU National Advocacy Institute to leading the Operations Committee for the 24-Hour Race against human trafficking, Trenton demonstrates leadership, courage, and a dedication to addressing complex problems. Trenton has taken proactive steps to educate and empower others by planning & running faculty professional development sessions at Granada High School on the critical topic of hate speech and intervention.

PLEASANTON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Amador Valley High School
Yatin Bayya

Already a published author for his 2020 publication of Python for Beginners; Learn it as easy as pie, Yatin Bayya’s computer science achievements have gone far beyond the classroom. His published Google extension Easy Accent Marks has 96,000 weekly users and is featured on the Google Webstore Homepage under “Top Picks”.

SAN RAMON VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Monte Vista High School
Krisha Singhani

Combining her drive for gender equity and knowledge of diagnostics, Krisha Singhani developed FEmale: A Diagnostic and Evaluation System for Iron Deficiency and Anemia in Teenage Girls Due to Their Menstrual Cycle; a noninvasive, at-home, low-cost, way to measure anemia. After receiving accolades from both academia and industry, Krisha took FEmale to the Red Cross Blood Donation Center and set up a near-future partnership to continue to test and refine the product. She is also in the process of filing a patent for FEmale.

TRI-VALLEY REGIONAL OCCUPATIONAL PROGRAM
Middle College High School
Gia Keiper

Gia is a passionate inventor and engineer with projects in Global Health, Engineering, Design, and Architecture. She designed an eVTOL aircraft that combines market demands with maximum performance and zero emission which she presented last month at the EAA Youth Aviation Fundraiser at Five Rivers Aviation. Recently, Gia was invited to co-develop a research payload for an upcoming NASA mission, together with 5 students from other courses.  The mission will actually, physically, go to the moon!

TRI-VALLEY 2040 REGIONAL VISIONARY AWARD
Youth Climate Summit Lead Planning Team
Pleasanton Unified School District and Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District
Sahil Mehta, Shrish Premkrishna, Thaarak Sriram, Darshini Binduraj, Alexander Pepper

This award is given to a student or group of students driving one of the regional goals set forth in Innovation Tri-Valley’s 2040 Vision Plan. In September of 2023, a group of Tri-Valley high school climate warriors galvanized an effort to promote regional climate change awareness and to explore solutions for collective action by producing the first annual Youth Climate Summit.  Pleasanton Unified’s Sahil Mehta and Livermore Valley Joint Unified students Shrish Premkrishna, Thaarak Sriram, Darshini Binduraj, and Alexander Pepper led the core planning team. The students established partnerships with Quest Science Center and the Tri-Valley Air Quality Climate Alliance to produce climate literacy resolutions for the regional school districts, heat mapping in Livermore, waste-auditing schools, and performing energy efficiency research related to lighting and environmental restoration.

About the 2023 DreamMakers and RiskTakers Awards Event:

Join the Tri-Valley community for the 13th annual breakfast ceremony celebrating these outstanding young innovators:

Date: Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Time: 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Location: Shannon Community Center, 11600 Shannon Ave, Dublin, CA 94568

innovationtrivalley.org.    

Ticket LINK HERE

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About Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group:

Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group (ITV) is a collective of leaders and influencers committed to connecting the businesses, educational institutions, research labs, and civic leaders in the Tri-Valley region. ITV showcases the region as a technology and innovation powerhouse, outpacing the Bay Area mega-region in both job creation and economic growth.

With more than 730 tech companies and a GRP of $49B, the region is home to some of the world’s most exciting innovation brands. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.