2024 Pathfinders scholarship awards honor 54 remarkable Palm Beach, Martin county students
When Vyapti Shahani Subramaniam told adults she wanted to be a neuroscientist when she grew up, she remembers a particularly cruel (and common) response.
"Sweetheart, why don't you choose a career more appropriate for girls?" they asked her. She said she felt ridiculed and belittled.
Now a senior at Suncoast High and one of 54 students honored with a 2024 Pathfinder Scholarship Award, Shahani Subramaniam is proving that "a career that's appropriate for girls" is truly anything a girl wants to be.
"Misogyny is globalized, but equal opportunity is not," she said. "These oppressive voices made me even more determined as an Indian-American woman to use my opportunities to support the education of underprivileged girls and students in general."
More: See which Palm Beach and Martin counties students were nominated for Pathfinder Awards
Shahani Subramaniam, first in her class of 355, applied to a slate of top-ranked schools and now plans to dive into neuroscience and biology at Washington University in St. Louis in the fall. Her goal is to understand and study consciousness and the states of knowing that allow people to perceive our surroundings in terms of "I" and "me."
She is one of an impressive list of 54 Pathfinders, who were announced Friday at Screen on the Green on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach. Shahani Subramaniam won first place in the Academic Excellence category.
Pathfinders scholarships are sponsored by The Palm Beach Post and award each of the first-place winners $3,000. By recognizing students across 18 categories, Pathfinders honors the high school seniors for their achievements inside and outside the classroom.
The scholarship program is now in its 40th year, and Palm Beach Post Executive Editor Rick Christie said it's the best example of the newspaper's relationship and investment in our community.
"This is one of my favorite times of year," Christie said. "These high school graduates are forms of renewal of our ideas, of our ideals and what our community can be."
Asked what his advice would be to the graduates and winners, Christie encouraged them to remember "whatever you think your limits are, think higher."
Pathfinder winner knows four languages. Guess where they come in handy the most?
Ryan Aouad, first place finisher in the World Languages category and nominated by West Boca Raton High, explained to the judges that he hopes to be a foreign affairs official and a polyglot, or someone who speaks several languages.
He is well on his way as a teenager: Aouad speaks or is learning Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian.
In addition to being able to trace the etymology of words in romance, central semitic and slavic languages, he said his skills also have far more practical uses.
"At my job as a lifeguard, there were numerous kids that did not speak English, usually from Latin America or Quebec. It was always a good feeling to be able to communicate with them in Spanish or French and convey the age-old rule of "no running!" in different languages," he said.
Forced to evacuate her hometown for a hurricane, Pathfinder winner took on the challenge
Nikki Leali of FAU High School won first place in the Computer Engineering and Technology category.
Leali was forced to evacuate her home state of Louisiana from Hurricane Ida and move to Florida to start over in the middle of high school and the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Everything I knew about high school ended abruptly on October 13th of 2021," she said. "The sudden decision forced me to leave behind everything I knew, including multiple volunteer programs I spearheaded. For the rest of my 10th grade year, I navigated as a Florida Virtual student, which was a difficult adjustment."
But Leali rose to the occasion.
She became a dual-enrolled student at FAU High and began working toward her bachelor's degree in data analytics. Leali hopes to work on harnessing artificial intelligence to get meaningful insights from complex data sets as the technology evolves.
Pathfinder winner helped fight poverty in San Francisco. Now, she hopes to make a difference in Florida
As a summer intern at a nonprofit in San Francisco, Jasmine Nunez said it was impossible to ignore the shattered bottles and trash that littered the sidewalk of Bonita Street, a predominantly Hispanic community in the "City by the Bay."
Nunez spent the summer helping unhoused residents or people living in poverty redeem clothing vouchers, learn English, nurture community gardens and get nutritious meals. When she came home and went back to school at Clark Advanced Learning Center in Stuart, she realized she had to tap into her Hispanic roots to make a lasting difference in her community.
"There is still much work to be done to eradicate the economic disparities that impact the Hispanic community," she said. "However, organizations like House of Hope inspire me to further their mission by targeting one of the biggest challenges to food insecurity: a need for more data. I am passionate about filling this data gap and ultimately championing policy."
As the winner of the 2024 Pathfinder Award for Community Involvement, Nunez has put in nearly 500 community service hours. She hopes to attend law school and find policy soIlutions to food insecurity.
Winners of 2024 Pathfinders scholarship awards
This year's Pathfinder Scholarship Awards garnered 544 nominations and honored students with a total of $117,000.
Along with the top prizes, second and third place winners earned $2,000 and $1,500, respectively, adding to more than $4 million awarded over the event's history.
"The Pathfinder program is a celebration of high achieving students in Palm Beach and Martin counties," said Janie Fogt, president of the Pathfinder board of directors. "Tonight, 544 outstanding seniors are in the spotlight for their success in one of 18 categories. The fact that they were chosen by their schools is a great honor, and we are delighted to award 54 of them college scholarships."
See the full list of winners below:
Academic Excellence
First place: Vyapti Shahani Subramaniam, Suncoast High
Second place: Bradley Frishman, American Heritage School
Third place: Aditya Narayanan, William T. Dwyer High
Art
First place: Petter Rodriguez, William T. Dwyer High
Second place: Arabella Sanchez-Garcia, Oxbridge Academy
Third place: Autumn Johnstone, Jupiter High
Business
First place: Emilia McGovern, Wellington High
Second place: Jacob Glover, Spanish River High
Third place: Pratheek Nathani, American Heritage
Career and Technical Education
First place: Olivia Angervil, Clark Advanced Learning Center
Second place: Eden Price, Jupiter Christian School
Third place: Nandini Patel, The Benjamin School
Communications
First place: Laila Mayfield, Jensen Beach High
Second place: Isaac Edelman, West Boca Raton High
Third place: Dariel Reid, American Heritage
Community Involvement
First place: Jasmine Nunez, Clark Advanced Learning Center
Second place: Noah Forman, FAU High
Third place: Sofia Scher, Spanish River High
Computer Engineering and Technology
First place: Nikki Leali, FAU High
Second place: Katelyn Sadorf, Spanish River High
Third place: Kaitlyn Chen, Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Forensics/Speech
First place: Sasha DiMare, American Heritage
Second place: Arik Karim, Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Third place: Morgan Rafferty, Suncoast High
History
First place: Shania Grant, FAU High
Second place: Joelle Carmel, William T. Dwyer High
Third place: Tanay Warrier, American Heritage
Literature
First place: Emily Singer, Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Second place: Nedjie Aurelien, Atlantic High
Third place: Alessandra Roberts, Saint Andrew's School
Math
First place: Matthew Cai, Atlantic High
Second place: Jesse Brodtman, American Heritage
Third place: Makena Senzon, Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Music — Instrumental
First place: Rose Friedman, Suncoast High
Second place: Julián Fente, Saint Andrew's School
Third place: Ryan Vladimir, Boca Raton High
Music — Vocal
First place: Cassidy Clark, Palm Beach Gardens High
Second place: Ava Diamond, William T. Dwyer High
Third place: Olivia Reid, Seminole Ridge High
Reach for Excellence
First place: Brooke Taylor, Spanish River High
Second place: Kai Franks, American Heritage
Third place: Mikayla Jeanty, Park Vista High
Science
First place: Ava Allwardt, Saint Andrew's School
Second place: Nira Goyal, Martin County High
Third place: Theodore Ouyang, Suncoast High
Sports
First place: Jake Chavis, FAU High
Second place: Brynn Stoneburg, Jensen Beach High
Third place: Cecelia Oneid, Jupiter High
Theater Arts
First place: Von Markarian, Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Second place: Johnathon Bucknor, Wellington High
Third place: Kelsey Bonner, West Boca Raton High
World Language
First place: Ryan Aouad, West Boca Raton High
Second place: Addington McKearn, William T. Dwyer High
Third place: Mario Suarez, Saint Andrew's School
Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today!
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: 2024 Pathfinders scholarship award winners from Palm Beach, Martin counties
