Future Leaders winner sees problems, becomes part of the solution in Colorado
CBS Colorado along with its partners, Chevron and Colorado School of Mines, honor high school students who excel in science, technology, engineering, and math. The Future Leaders Award comes with $1,000 and a profile on CBS News Colorado.
The most recent winner is Amy Xia, a junior at Cherry Creek High School. She is doing everything she can to make the world a better place.
As part of a Cyber Leaders Program, Xia teaches coding to fourth graders at Holm Elementary School.
"They are so fun to work with because I see a lot of myself in them," Xia explained.
Cyber Leaders was started by a previous Future Leaders winner, Bryce Hunter. It's a club that meets before school in which high school students teach elementary school students how to create the code that makes robots and other computer programs work.
"When I was in elementary school, we had a similar coding class except it was not engaging at all," Xia explained. "What I hope they take away from it is that computer science is for everybody."
In addition to the work she does with the Holm Elementary students, Xia is working on her own coding project. She's building an app called Kiwi Kares.
"So my inspiration for the app is based off my freshman year self," Xia said. "I ended up not taking care of myself at all. I realized I wasn't along in this. A lot of my friends were actually doing the exact same thing ... just pushing themselves way past the limit."
The app makes self care into a game in which teens can get points when they do things to take care of themselves. Xia hopes the app will serve as a gentle reminder that drinking water, getting enough sleep, and regular exercise are as important as school work and extracurricular activities.
"Plus Kiwis are super cute and fun," she added.
The pandemic was a tough time for Xia and her family.
"All four of my grandparents passed away in assisted living within a very short period of time, and this was during the COVID era, so I was unable to visit them and be there for them," she explained.
The loss of her grandparents inspired Xia to become a certified nurse's assistant, so she could work in assisted living facilities.
"I wanted to support people in that situation just to kind of make up for what I wasn't able to give my grandparents," Xia explained.
In the wake of the pandemic when there were hospital staffing shortages, Xia started volunteering at Swedish Medical Center. She recently became a Certified Cuddler.
"It's the cutest thing ever," she said.
She does most of her cuddling in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, holding and helping the tiniest, sickest babies.
"I started out as a very sick NICU baby, and I made it," she explained. "Kind of full circle moment just helping these other babies."
During the summer and breaks from school, Xia can be found in a research lab at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes.
"I'm very interested in the immune system in general. I have a long family history of autoimmunity and general immune failure.
Xia started out shadowing the researchers. Now she has her own project under her mentor Dr. Soojin Kim.
"We're just trying to model the disease in a cell line to better understand how it develops," Xia explained.
She's working among researchers who may one day find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.
"Just saying that this is going on ... actually happening in the lab is really cool to me, and also it brings some hope for the future," Xia said.
Xia is also providing hope for the future. When she faces a challenge in her life, she becomes a part of the solution for other people. That's what makes her a Future Leader.
LINK: Future Leaders Award
If you know a high school student in Colorado who excels in STEM, nominate them for CBS Colorado's Future Leaders Award. We're accepting nominations through April 18, 2025.
