KERIANALEE RIVERA CRUZ, 17

Kerianalee Rivera Cruz lives and attends high school in Puerto Rico. Her passions revolve around helping others. She finds a sense of fulfillment and happiness in helping the people around her however she can, whether that’s with schoolwork or a simple favor. In the future, she wants to continue helping others as a doctor, specializing in pediatrics. In her practice, she will emphasize respect and love for her patients. She says that adults act the way they do because they learned to think a certain way based on the circumstances of their childhood. She wants to be able to help kids grow and become their best selves as adults.

Rivera Cruz is deeply involved in educational organizations at her high school and has always excelled. She was elected as the student president for her high school, won first place in both writing and mathematics competitions, and as a junior, she was recognized with an award of excellence at the senior graduation ceremony.

Rivera’s hopes for herself and the youth is simple: to be heard. Even if they are young, youth have ideas and aspire to help others and make our world better. We are the future so why not start working on it right now? She hopes that with meaningful work, young people around the world will have access to more opportunities to help the planet.