The Young Visionaries Fellowship was created specifically to acknowledge Northeast Indiana youth who are intent on making their community a better place. We want our region’s youth to understand that using entrepreneurial skills isn’t just about making money - it is also about making impact in the world. We believe it is important for our next generation to build a better tomorrow!
We are proud of this year’s Young Visionaries applicants! Each one is fueling their own passion, in their own way, to make our world a little - or a lot - better. Please join us in welcoming them, and check back later to see who were selected as 2021 Young Visionaries Fellows!
Dayani Guevara, 18, Stronger Together Latinx, Allen County
Young people from communities of color face strong obstacles to achieve a higher education. Dayani and her business partner Irasema Hernandez Trujillo overcame some of those challenges firsthand, and they are forming a nonprofit to help Latinx youth overcome the ones they will face. Their plans include mentorship, internships, workshops, and scholarships. They have identified a board of directors and are working with an attorney to form their new organization. We are also proud to know that part of their motivation comes from their experience with Pave the Path, where they presented a workshop at the recent Summit and were struck with the desire to give back to the community.
Elayna Hasty, 19, G.A.B. Girls, Steuben County, Trine University
Elayna was only 9 years old when she founded nonprofit G.A.B. Girls (girls against bullying) in response to her best friend’s being bullied. Fast forward a decade to today, and her nonprofit has held over 70 workshops and reached over 3,000 people. G.A. B. Girls’ messages of positive self-esteem, suicide awareness, and anti-bullying prevention focus directly on the biggest bullying problems. Workshops are appropriately tailored to girls of various age groups and help call to know how to support one another and find their own sense of self worth.
Madeline Phuong, 16, A Second Chance, Allen County, Homestead HS
https://asecondchancefw.wixsite.com/cards
What do you do if you are really truly concerned about pet health and welfare AND are a fabulous artist? You start a project selling pet-oriented cards and give all of the profits to local animal nonprofits! Since 2018 Madeline has done exactly that, selling over 2,200 cards and raising over $7,500 to benefit various nonprofits. This year, she was one of the artists selected to paint a fiberglass bench for Humane Fort Wayne’s LoveSeat public art campaign and fundraiser. You owe it to yourself to visit her Etsy shop and buy some of the beautiful cards.
Scotlyn Moncour, 12, Bear’s Beanies, Allen County, Leo MS
https://bearsbeaniesandmor.wixsite.com/bearsbeanies
Recently a box of 36 beanies were hand delivered to the Ronald McDonald House in Indianapolis on their way to kid’s fighting cancer at Riley Hospital. One more delivery courtesy of Bear’s Beanies. Scotlyn gives one beanie to kids at Riley for each and very beanie she sells! Sell one - give one. We love how an initial idea to make a little pocket money combined with some serious product development spawn Scotlyn’s idea to the world a little brighter (and warmer) for some kids who are literally fighting for their lives. The world needs more Scotlyns!
Taryn Martin, 17, Girls Who Code, Allen County, Bishop Dwenger HS
Women are under-represented in the software community, as are people of color. Careers in computer science are growing dramatically, but these groups are being left behind. Taryn and her partners Emily Szczepanski, Makayla Johnson, and Kobe Johnson have set out to remedy that. They will start by introducing 5th and 8th graders to coding and to career opportunities in computer science. They envision monthly events that grow a community of young computer science enthusiasts, introduce them to speakers from the field, teach them some coding skills, and expose them to future career opportunities. We were very happy to see this project and team created during the Young Visionaries workshop at the 2021 Pave the Path Summit.