Distinguished Finalist

Hadeel Abdallah, 17, of Lexington, Ky., a senior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, founded "Youth of Lex" at three local high schools and one middle school in an effort to bring teens of different backgrounds together for friendship and community service, and has since organized volunteer projects for the group with soup kitchens, Habitat for Humanity and other organizations. Hadeel, who started the program in 2012, has recruited an executive committee to help run the organization, hosts monthly meetings with guest speakers, organizes fundraising events, and coordinates promotional activities for the program.