Name: Michelle Kelrikh, Age 16
School: , Class of 2013
Accomplishment: Michelle founded the Kiva Club at Stevenson High School, an organization that focuses on fundraising in order to provide micro-loans to struggling entrepreneurs in third-world countries.
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Michelle is the President of the Kiva Club and recently ran a new and energizing fundraiser for the club called The Gumball Challenge. A Stanford University student-run company, Gumball Capital, runs the challenge. Gumball Capital gave each 4-6 person team $27, 27 gumballs, and one week to come up with an entrepreneurial venture to raise as much money as possible.
Check out their video. More than 110 students participated in the nation’s biggest Gumball Challenge (bigger than Stanford’s!) at Stevenson. The club raised $4,434.37 for micro-loans in Third World countries.
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Key to Awesomeness: “I've basically made my life goal to help others,” Michelle said. Beginning in elementary school, Michelle found her passion for fundraising through school walks for diabetes and cystic fibrosis charities, raising over $600 during junior high school. Thanks to her eighth-grade social studies teacher, Michelle learned about the concept of microloans. She found it interesting to learn about the innovative concept of microloans and the fresh look at combating global poverty.
“Because microloans are loans, rather than just donations, after the money has helped one person, it is basically recycled, and the money comes back and we can loan it to someone else, and help yet another person!” she said. Michelle took this knowledge, combined it with her passion for helping others, and brought a new club to Stevenson High School, now boasting 30-40 members at each meeting and a fundraising total of more than $5,000 in its first year.
