With the support of the Dragon Kim Foundation—an Orange County-based nonprofit that develops student potential in the arts, athletics and academics—two motivated students at Oxford Academy in Cypress have answered a familiar question: What did you do on your summer vacation?
The response from Fashion Castillo-Delgadillo and Vinutha Sandahi is to use their summer vacation sparking an interest in science in children through engaging lessons connecting sports with science and encourage an active lifestyle.
The high schoolers are putting their plan into action this summer, and that included conducting a learning session that featured a sheep’s brain to help illustrate brain damage that can happen in sports activities last Thursday at the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim, located at 1260 N Riviera St.
The pair was selected to develop their project, called G.O.A.L. (Guiding Outstanding Active Learners) through the Foundation’s Dragon Kim Fellowship Program (learn more at http://dragonkimfoundation/org/fellowship/.). Theirs was one of 20 teams of motivated high school students who have created and are managing community service projects with support of grants of up to $5,000. The Foundation worked with those 20 projects throughout this spring and summer after selecting them last February from a total of over 150 entries.
As Dragon Fellows, each team went through a six-month incubator where they received leadership training and were connected to a business mentor who helped them develop their project. In September, three teams will be selected as finalists to present their projects in the style of the “Shark Tank” television show at the Dragon Challenge to an exceptional panel of judges selected from the business and philanthropy sectors.
Among the highly esteemed panelists are Dr. Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz and former CEO of PIMCO; Jonathan Levin, Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business; and Sarah Kiani, Director, Masimo Foundation. The panel will select one of the three projects to receive an additional $5,000 to continue their work in the community.
“Together, our Dragon Kim Fellowship projects are impacting hundreds of people, especially children, in Southern California this summer. We’re empowering high school students to go out into the world and do good by sharing their passions,” said Dragon Kim Foundation Executive Director Grace Kim. The Fellowship was founded in honor of the late Dragon Kim, a talented young musician, athlete and scholar who wanted to help others.