San Diego’s most remarkable teens honored for their contributions to the community – KPBS

The 25 most remarkable teens in San Diego, chosen by the San Diego County Public Defender, are being honored for their accomplishments and contributions to the community.

Every year, the office recognizes outstanding youth nominated for making a difference in their own way.

The students range in age from 13 to 19 and are recognized in categories including environmental advocacy, arts and culture, technology, civic involvement, entrepreneurship, courage to overcome adversity, and more.

Makena Stumpo, 13, plays the guitar well but it is the piano that really makes him sing.

“It just feels natural. It just feels like it’s the right thing to be doing when I’m singing and playing,” he said.

Stumpo is an eight grade student at Pacific Beach Middle School. When he grows up he wants to be a marine biologist, but he could also be a musician.

He has used his talent to raise awareness and donations for charities like the Prevent Drowning Foundation. He raised $200 last summer singing in a downtown park. He also sings in retirement homes.

“Most people have visions but they don’t go out to achieve them. I think remarkable people are the ones that go out to achieve their dreams and their visions,” Stumpo said.

M.G. Perez

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KPBS

Leslie Pagel, 17, is a Crawford High School senior who is out and proud.

“I went through a lot of labels that didn’t really fit me personally and I found that the label ‘queer’ is very broad and encompassing of who I am. I don’t want to be put into a box,” she said.

Pagel wears her diversity on her sleeve as proof of her strength, literally. During freshman year, she and her parents moved to San Diego from Tijuana where she was harassed and bullied by classmates and teachers for being gay. At Crawford High School, Pagel has blossomed as president of the Gay Student Alliance. A budding artist, she uses her remarkable creativity to honor LGBTQ history and inspire others like her.

“I truly felt like I was alone because adults made me feel alone — they made me feel I didn’t deserve any rights or that I did not deserve any love. But the whole community is about love and there is 100% another person like you,” Pagel said.

Courtesy of Vedant Nahar

MedAlert is a potentially lifesaving application for nurses to download. It was produced by a company whose CEO, Vedant Nahar,16, is a junior at Scripps Ranch High School.

“My friend’s grandmother accidentally passed away due to a medication error in a nursing facility. Using that as inspiration, my team and I created MedAlert because we wanted to solve the issue of medication errors in these nursing facilities,” he said.

Nahar is also a star athlete with a second-degree blackbelt in Taekwondo and he is on his high school varsity swim team. He plans to use all his experience, strength, and hope to be a tech entrepreneur someday.

“Finding problems, innovating to create solutions, bringing them to market, and having people using it to help people solve their issues,” he said.