Comcast Honors Thurston County’s Young Leaders

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Mehar Nallamalli thought he was making a difference. As an intern at the United Nations, he gave speeches on how to eradicate homelessness in the U.S. and focused on the relationship between mental illness and living on the street.

comcastBut when he got home, he discovered something: nothing had changed. “At the time, I thought I was doing a lot to help the cause, but really I just gave a few speeches. I learned that in order to make a difference, you have to actually go out there and do it,” said the Capital High School senior.

The result was the SAI Group, a non-profit organization he co-founded that serves Indian food to Olympia’s homeless population two Saturdays each month. On June 2, Nallamalli was honored with a $5,000 scholarship at Comcast’s Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Reception at the Governor’s Mansion. Nallamalli was joined by four other seniors who received $1,000 scholarships.

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A senior at Capital High School, Mehar Nallamalli won a $5,000 scholarship from Comcast.

The annual event recognizes leaders in different areas, not simply academic achievement. “The great thing about this scholarship is that you can’t apply for it,” says Walter Neary, Senior Director of External Communications at Comcast. “You have to be named by a counselor or principal. We get descriptions of young people that absolutely boggle the mind. These are students who found the ability to do 18 things at once and often get straight A’s.”

The range of projects and achievements is impressive; among the Thurston County recipients, Timberline High School’s Ashley Eibert designed and implemented a summer camp program for adolescent girls through her church; North Thurston High School’s Wyatt Couey chose to rehabilitate a half mile of trail around Lake Lois Habitat Reserve for his Eagle Scout project, organizing nearly 50 volunteers for the effort; Kendru Dimalanta, class president of Northwest Christian High School, organized her school’s prom and senior trip; and Black Hills High School’s Callie Bianco served as a drum major for two successful seasons.

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During a break-out session on branding, North Thurston High School senior Wyatt Couey shared his values and goals with the group.

In years past, students attending the event have listened to a speaker, but this year Comcast decided to make the event more interactive. Guest facilitators Julie Pham, Vice President of Community Engagement and Marketing at the Washington Technology Industry Association, Matt Watrous, Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, and Tamara Power-Drutis, Executive Director of Crosscut, led two break-out sessions where students got to explore branding, mentorship, and community leadership.

“This was a really cool opportunity to go into the Governor’s Mansion and learn more about leadership and branding yourself so you can make yourself better,” says Couey.

Due to the size of the facility, each student was allowed to bring one guest which in almost every case was a parent. “We want to honor the parents too because they were the drivers, especially in the early years, and the support,” says Neary. “It’s an honor for them too.

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Ashley Eibert participated in a break-out session on community leadership led by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington Executive Director Matt Watrous.

The students say that the lessons they gained through their projects go beyond school. Eibert says that organizing the summer camp helped her to overcome shyness. “It took a lot of patience and I learned how to connect with different personalities and characters,” she says. “Now I’m able to communicate better and not shy away from talking to people if I’m in a group.” Such confidence will help her next year when she attends Brigham Young University.

Couey will be attending the University of Portland on an ROTC scholarship for the Air Force. “I’ll be taking leadership classes and will be in a leadership role,” he says. “Delegating tasks is one of the biggest things that I got from my scouting experience, and I’ll take that forward in my military career and throughout college.”

Nallamalli plans to major in computer science at the University of Washington. “It’s not much of a community-related field, but there is also a civil service aspect of it,” he says. “Whatever sphere I go into or whatever kind of people I meet next year, I can use the skill of actually doing the work, whether it applies to school or outside of school.”

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Students from eighty-eight schools throughout Washington State were nominated for Comcast scholarships by counselors or principals.

The students agree that the Comcast scholarship is an important recognition. “This is a big honor,” says Eibert. “I wasn’t expecting it. It was really cool to know that my school nominated me.”

Aside from the financial aspect, Nallamalli says the scholarship sends a signal. “They’re encouraging me to keep doing what I do and showing me that there are benefits to doing it,” he says.

Neary hopes it has another effect. “We call them to the Governor’s Mansion because we’d like to imply that one of them could end up here some day,” he says. “We want to encourage them to continue to be leaders. They’re about to go to college where there are a billion distractions. We want to take them to a very grand setting, to the center of a certain kind of leadership in Washington State and say, ‘you belong here as a guest because you’ve done wonderful things.’”

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