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Students from 28 Fairfax County public schools have received the 2026 Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County for projects that promote understanding, equity, community service and peaceful change.
Established in 2006, the awards encourage people to view peace as both a goal and a way of achieving change. Each Fairfax County high school may nominate a junior, senior or student group whose work advances peace. Volunteers organize the program, which is supported by donations from 16 secular and religious organizations.
The 2026 recipients are:
Lily Rumpf, Annandale High School: As president of Annandale’s National Business Honor Society, Rumpf added a service component that provides financial education as a community resource. She developed presentations on financial basics for high school students, with volunteers translating sessions live into Spanish. She has also tutored students in English and Spanish through the Atoms Writing Center and organized workshops—sometimes attended by as many as 50 students—with targeted assistance for ESOL and IB students.
Caleb Crawford, Cedar Lane School: Crawford was recognized for creating a calm, welcoming environment, particularly for new students and classmates who struggle with anxiety or peer interactions. Students elected him co-president of the Student Government Association, and he brings an upbeat tone to morning announcements. He also maintains the outdoor classroom and volunteers with the Cedar Closet, which supplies families with clothing, shoes, food and school materials. His teachers said he leads through “calm cheerfulness” that encourages the same response in others.
Sheba Ahmadzai, Centreville High School: Ahmadzai founded Wings of Afghan Hope and coordinated more than 50 volunteers to deliver food, winter clothing, educational materials and hygiene kits to over 15,000 people in Afghanistan. Literacy and English programs she designed have enrolled more than 300 girls and provided over 1,000 hours of instruction. When internet access is unavailable, volunteers organize informal study groups while adapting to Taliban restrictions on girls’ education. She also created a tutoring program at Centreville, where the Afghan Student Association supports students facing language barriers and isolation.
Voices of Chantilly, Chantilly High School: Advait Kothuri, Ved Patil, Athri Cheboli, Pranav Adivi, Krishiv Chandra, Rishi Guharoy and Nikhil Vaidy were honored for a club that helps students express themselves and respectfully engage with different perspectives. Weekly meetings draw at least 20 students for TED-style speeches, personal storytelling and exercises in listening, trust-building and constructive feedback. Participants say the communication skills have helped keep disagreements outside the club from escalating.
Aaya Ali, Edison High School: Ali has supported families displaced by Sudan’s civil war. While volunteering in Sudan, she helped provide more than 10,000 meals to internally displaced families. In the United States, she raised $2,000 toward a small library for children in a displacement camp, with remaining money used for food, medicine and other essentials. Her latest effort seeks funding to rehabilitate a nonprofit center for children with disabilities that was nearly destroyed during the war; new beds have already been built for long-term treatment wards.
Damanika Ravi, Fairfax High School: Troubled by students’ casual use of racial slurs and stereotypes, Ravi began working to confront biased speech. Through George Mason University’s Youth Research Council, she helped collect, analyze and present data while turning student testimonials into poems, word clouds and a quilt of significant phrases. She also joined Fairfax High School’s Equity Team during her junior year to promote awareness and positive change.
Gabriella “Gaby” Henriquez, Falls Church High School: Henriquez co-founded the Hispanic Youth Initiative, a student-run organization recruiting volunteers across Fairfax County to expand STEM opportunities in underrepresented communities. It established a STEM club at Mason Crest Elementary using inexpensive household materials, supported fifth-grade science tutoring and revived Science Olympiad at Westlawn Elementary, and helped organize a computer science and STEAM fair at Braddock Elementary. Her work emphasizes collaboration among students and larger nonprofits.
Sinaiyah Emami, Hayfield Secondary School: Emami was 4 when her father was injured while serving in Afghanistan and later diagnosed with PTSD. In 2025, she and her sister Azara launched We Signed Up Too, a blog offering support to children of wounded, ill and injured veterans. The project has drawn attention to those children’s needs and encouraged veterans’ organizations to support entire families. She has also worked with Willing Warriors and Cloverleaf Equine Center on daylong events for children of disabled veterans.
Fredis Guillen Ayala, Herndon High School: Guillen Ayala participated in overnight workcamps operated through a Catholic Diocese of Arlington youth ministry program centered on service, faith and fellowship. During his first year, he replaced windows in a home. The following year, he installed vinyl flooring in another house needing major repairs. The homeowners told him the improvements made the property feel like a true home.
The Verdict, Justice High School: Students in Mark Gaffen’s journalism class and the after-school Verdict Club revived the school newspaper after it produced just one issue the previous year. Coverage has addressed sports betting, teen pregnancy and students’ encounters with ICE, giving members of Justice’s diverse community a platform to discuss difficult experiences. Gaffen said the popularity of the printed newspaper surprised him and created opportunities for conversation and sharing.
Yenni Ly Do, Lake Braddock Secondary School: Do founded Books and Basics to deliver clothing and school supplies to her family’s community in Vietnam. The nonprofit has completed its first delivery and plans to work with a larger organization. She also folded 3,780 birds for Origami for Good, led hardware development for a robotic hand that translates speech into sign-language fingerspelling and revived Lake Braddock’s Technology Student Association to encourage more girls to pursue engineering.
Ryan Musmar, Langley High School: At age 15, Musmar taught English to refugees while visiting relatives in Amman, Jordan. He later published a paper examining the Gaza Strip’s economy, the effects of prolonged conflict and strategies for a peaceful, self-sufficient future. In Northern Virginia, he founded the Hijrah Initiative and organized a legal-rights workshop for members of several mosque congregations. He also addressed more than 1,000 delegates at the Global Citizens Model United Nations Conference, calling for a Middle Eastern coalition to hold corporations accountable for environmental harm.
Rachel Yousaf, Lewis High School: Yousaf created the Instagram account “Voices for Women,” which has more than 400 followers and discusses the gender pay gap, harmful myths and the value of women supporting one another. She also participates in the Girls Need Love club, which promotes girls’ confidence and personal growth. Her work has included a Breast Cancer Awareness Month “Pink Out” and a menstrual-product drive that collected, sorted and distributed hygiene supplies to women in need.
Red Cross Club, James Madison High School: Audrey Tan and Allison Xu restarted the school’s Red Cross Club after a hiatus of several years. Nearly 20 students regularly attend monthly meetings, while focused events have attracted as many as 70. Members made more than 50 cards for veterans and another 30 for Vienna-area first responders. The club also organized a holiday toy drive for local families in need.
Lucia Castellon Soria, Marshall High School: As a student ambassador, Castellon Soria welcomes new students and helps them form connections. She also leads Latinos Unidas, which shares Latino culture, organizes events and sells cards to fund scholarships. Her participation in a conference addressing recurring concerns at Marshall helped produce new rules and communication channels with administrators. She additionally arranged a rights-information meeting for students concerned about ICE.
Chloe Jeong, McLean High School: Jeong leads McLean’s Rotary-sponsored Interact Club, which has concentrated on endangered species—especially elephants in Laos—through fundraising and public education. She uses her artwork to advocate for marine conservation and pollution prevention and participates in the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Student Leadership program. Her advocacy before the Virginia General Assembly has supported funding and legislation addressing pollution and climate-related threats.
Savonne Clark, Mount Vernon High School: Through the FCPS Student Equity Ambassador Leaders program, Clark designed a template schools can use to introduce counselors, psychologists and social workers and make mental-health resources easier to find. She is developing a student letter-writing campaign in support of FCPS guidance counselors. Clark also co-leads the “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions” section of the Global Leaders of Fairfax County program, exploring educational access and inequality among FCPS students.
Sana Stanikzai, Mountain View High School: Stanikzai lost years of education when Afghanistan closed schools to girls and later lived with her family in a refugee camp in Qatar before arriving in the United States. At Mountain View, she turned that experience into an article titled “From Hope to Deprivation: The Story of Education.” Her writing describes Afghan girls’ lost opportunities and asks readers to understand why education and equality matter. “Peace starts when people listen to each other and feel empathy,” she wrote.
Yanis Mehenni, Oakton High School: For two years, Mehenni has worked with the Oakton Pantry, which supplies food, hygiene products, cleaning materials and school supplies to students, families and the wider community. Every Tuesday, he coordinates 15 to 25 student volunteers as they sort donations into 30 to 40 bags for distribution by parent volunteers. Student-group fundraisers help sustain the pantry.
Brycen Smith, Quander Road School: Smith’s teachers described him as a quiet leader guided by empathy, integrity and a commitment to peace. He has helped defuse community conflicts and brings stability and compassion to students and staff without seeking recognition. Smith said tolerance is the first step toward understanding and the path that must be followed for peace.
Caitlyn Murphy, Robinson Secondary School: Murphy founded Connecting Through Cards, which delivers as many as 1,500 blank greeting cards each month to retirement homes. Club members now visit residents for card-writing parties featuring conversation and music, helping them send messages to relatives and friends. Murphy also arranged an orchestra’s Christmas performance at a retirement community. She said the experience taught her that peace requires communities where everyone feels safe and valued.
Kayhan Kandahari, South County High School: Kandahari has raised hundreds of dollars for people in crisis-affected areas including Palestine, Congo and Afghanistan. He helped found Voices Unmuted, which publishes research on issues facing nations in crisis. His health-related work includes writing about youth healthcare, establishing a Blood Cancer United chapter and contributing to eating-disorder prevention. He also participates in the Principal Feedback Forum, where students discuss school life and possible improvements with South County’s principal.
Alden Walcott, South Lakes High School: A member of the Nansemond Indian Nation, Walcott has reported on her tribe for Virginia Public Media as part of the PBS News Student Reporting Labs’ Student Advisory Team. One article examined how Virginia’s 1924 Racial Integrity Act erased “Indian” as a legal racial classification, complicating later efforts by tribes to prove their continuous presence and obtain federal recognition. Another piece explored how Indigenous teenagers and young adults maintain cultural ties, with the goal of challenging stereotypes and encouraging meaningful discussion of contemporary Indigenous identity.
Anwar Kiyar, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology: Kiyar developed a free programming course for children ages 9 to 12 at his mosque, where parents reported that students gained confidence, excitement and community. He followed it with a weekly elementary math club built around teamwork. At Thomas Jefferson, he co-leads Send-A-Smile, which has collected school supplies, made cards for hospitalized children and bracelets for cancer patients, and organized anti-bullying videos, a Unity Day event and a paper kindness chain filled with encouraging messages.
Student Equity Ambassador Leaders, Westfield High School: Sasha Allotey, Sophia Alcocer Castedo, Maame Boakye and Shayoni Bose participate in a countywide leadership initiative focused on inclusive, culturally responsive school communities. Westfield’s team meets monthly and has worked to improve access to menstrual products, challenged a rule preventing some students from holding Student Government office when the required class does not fit their schedule, and explored ways to reduce bathroom vaping. Members also hope to produce a video about racial slurs and other offensive language.
Annalise Richardson, West Potomac High School: Richardson has participated in Model United Nations and Georgetown University’s Global Leaders Fellowship. As an intern with the League of Women Voters, she helped register hundreds of eligible voters. She chairs the Fairfax County Student Human Rights Commission, which promotes dialogue about diversity, civil and human rights, appreciation of differences and participation in government. Planned projects include a Read Across America book drive, International Night celebrations at high schools and countywide student recruitment for the commission.
Natalie Ignacio, West Springfield High School: As co-president of the Asian American Student Association, Ignacio organized donations of clothing and other goods for a Philippine hospital and coordinated Filipino dance performances for International Night. She also leads West Springfield’s Interact Club, where she arranged a food-packing event for Northern Virginia families experiencing food insecurity. Through Kristi’s Christmas, which provides necessities and gifts to students from Title I elementary schools, she recruited 95 new volunteers and helped coordinate the project.
Maia Kim, Woodson High School: Kim, a cellist in Woodson’s orchestra, sought a way for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students to experience music more fully. Working with her teacher, Mrs. Wilcox, and Music: Not Impossible, she brought Vibrotextile technology to the school. The harness uses eight vibration zones to convey parts played by instruments including violins, violas, cellos, bass and percussion, allowing wearers to feel a live performance’s complexity. Students who tried it laughed, cried and danced. Kim later helped demonstrate the technology to educators at a Virginia Music Educators Association conference.