2024 NHS Scholarship Recipients

Quick Links: National Winner | Pillar Winners | Finalists | Semi-Finalists

NASSP, parent organization of the National Honor Society, is proud to announce the winners of the 2024 National Honor Society Scholarships!

Every state in the U.S. is represented among the winners, along with the District of Columbia and our overseas chapters. These students, all members of the class of 2024, were chosen from among thousands of applicants. Finalists receive $5,625. At Trailblazing Leadership Week, four Pillar Award winners will receive an additional $5,000 and the National winner will receive a total of $25,000.

National Winner | $25,000

Ella Mayor
Santa Susana High School
Simi Valley, CA

Ella Mayor is a dedicated volunteer, public speaker, and healthcare advocate. A resident of Simi Valley, she has served as president of Santa Susana High School’s NHS chapter for two years, and she has collaborated with the nonprofit, Forever Found, to donate clothing to trafficked children in India, Thailand, and Ethiopia. Ella’s leadership extends to various school organizations, including STEM for Girls Excelling in Math and Science (GEMS), HOSA-Future Health Professionals, National Ethics Bowl, and peer tutoring. She works more than 25 hours a week in a CVS pharmacy, and she works as a private tutor. She also enjoys speaking about groundbreaking research alongside UCLA professors at annual stem cell and neuroscience symposiums. As Chief Medical Officer of the Ventura County Medical Explorer Foundation, she helped partner with Safe Passage to volunteer in mobile vaccine clinics located in underserved areas. In 2024, she was named “Student of the Year” by Rotary International.

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NHS Pillar Winners | $10,625

SCHOLARSHIP
Elizabeth Djajalie
Thunder Mountain High School
Juneau, AK

Elizabeth Djajalie is a young leader in STEM, innovation, education, and public communication. Born and raised in Juneau, she founded the Alaska Science and Engineering Fair Student Spokespersons Board, raising over $15,000 for the statewide STEM nonprofit. The “Future Women of STEM Podcast” she launched, produced, and hosted aired on public radio and has reached listeners on four continents via Spotify. Elizabeth has conducted graduate-level research on environmental biotechnologies, and she most recently studied using environmental DNA metabarcoding and qPCR to detect, quantify, and conserve various Pacific salmon species. This project was recognized by the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Defense, and Taiwan International Science Fair, among others. She has sung the national anthem for numerous community commemorations, performed with her orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and received several art and writing awards. She is also a U.S. Senate Youth delegate, Regeneron STS Scholar, AIME qualifier, Distinguished Young Woman of Alaska, public radio guest host, and tennis state champion.

CHARACTER: Sponsored by Turnitin
Aadya Gattu
Central Bucks High School South
Warrington, PA

Aadya Gattu is an advocate for social justice with a vision of effecting positive change through law and public service. A first-generation Indian American, she is a director of the student-run social justice group Youth4Unity, captain of her school’s state-ranking mock trial team, and class president. She is also a Senior Patrol Leader and Eagle Scout in a pioneering female Boy Scout troop. Her commitment to service extends to volunteering with the Prajwala Foundation, a domestic abuse shelter for women, and tutoring in her school’s writing center. She has interned at both state and federal representative offices and organized mass voter registration drives. She hopes to pursue a career as a nonprofit lawyer, advocating for the rights of underserved communities. We would like to thank our 2024 Character Pillar Scholarship Donor, Turnitin for their support.

SERVICE
Chase Hartman
Walter L Sickles High School
Tampa, FL

Chase Hartman is an entrepreneur and civic-minded leader passionate about educational equity and the environment. He was inspired to serve his community after his chapter of National Elementary Honor Society (NEHS) ran a book collection drive. Chase co-founded an award-winning book distribution project, read.repeat. when he was only 10 years old. This project evolved into a nonprofit, Eco Brothers. He has focused on improving literacy rates and has distributed 220,000 books to 65,000 students in Hillsborough County, FL, and in all 50 states. He advocates for more diverse and dual-language books in schools and has spoken to his local board of education about the need for such books. He has raised $120,000, mobilized hundreds of volunteers, and provided 10,000 service hours to teens. An Eagle Scout and Senior Patrol Leader in Troop 46, he ran Scouting for Food for three years and donated 7,000 food units to a local pantry. He also designed, planted, and maintained a butterfly garden for his elementary school. He is student body president, swim team captain, a Congressional Award Gold Medal recipient, and a four-time gold-level honoree in the President’s Volunteer Service Awards.

LEADERSHIP
Jensen Coonradt
Oswego East High School
Oswego, IL

Jensen Coonradt is the founder of a STEM club and debate club at their school. Through the STEM club, Jensen brought together a diverse group of entrepreneurial students to solve community problems. For example, club members developed a backpack concept integrating ultrasonics and neuroplasticity to aid visually impaired navigation. The invention propelled the club to the national finals of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Challenge, winning $65,000 for their school and facilitating the establishment of a student makerspace. Jensen also leads engineering classes, creates STEM kits for underserved students, and presents about robotics at community events. Jensen is passionate about community service and environmental activism, distributing over 8,340 native plant seeds through their nonprofit Seeds of Hope. They also worked with a local animal shelter to organize fundraising and youth engagement events, orchestrated a badminton team fundraising tournament, and led many other community service initiatives as a Key Club lieutenant governor. Jensen hopes to pursue engineering in college to continue changing our world for the better, one invention at a time.

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