The Student Peace Awards committee of the Herndon Friends began out of a concern to extend the Meeting's faith in peace to a wider community, outside its Meeting building at 660 Spring Street in Herndon. Native gardens will come into bloom in the next few weeks and months transforming the beds that surround the Meeting House.
Students and organizations from 25 Fairfax County public high schools and two private high schools have been named recipients of the 2025 Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County, designed to recognize young people who work as peacemakers. The event took place on Sunday, March 2 at Sherwood Community Center, 3740 Blenheim Boulevard, Fairfax.
The 2025 Student Peace awardees are:
* Annandale HS – Sage Nagle
* Centreville HS – Jayden Lee
* Chantilly HS – Nila Elangovan
* Edison HS – Mia Martin-Escandarani
* Fairfax HS– Kiran Ashok
* Falls Church HS – Shri Bala
* Hayfield SS – Ava Saunders and Grace Varughes
* Herndon HS – Clarissa Dantes
* Justice HS – Muslim Student Association
* King Abdullah Academy – Essam Jazzar
* Lake Braddock SS – Manas Puri
* Langley HS – Anniyah Rizvi
* Lewis HS – Madison McLaughlin
* Madison HS – Hunter Guthrie
* Marshall HS – Ghalia Sakly
* McLean HS – Bushra Ehikhamenor
* Mount Vernon HS – Jennifer Villalobos-Saenz
* Mountain View HS – Julia DeVera
* Oakton HS - Isaac Rodriguez
* Quander Road School – Jonathan Johnston
* Robinson SS – Jasmine Sklarew
* South County HS – Ghazi "Zizo" Hanania
* South Lakes HS – Jahnavi Nandanavanam
* Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology – Send-a-Smile Club
* West Potomac HS – Salaiha Najeeb
* West Springfield HS – Simeon Samuel
* Westfield HS – Westfield Unified Sports
* Woodson HS – Harun Khan
The Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County began in 2006 to encourage people to think more about peace as both a means and an end and to recognize young people working as peacemakers. Each year, every public high school and two private high schools in Fairfax County are asked to select one junior or senior or a group of students whose work has promoted peace.
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly was speaker at the awards and the U.S. House of Representatives is recognizing the 2025 Fairfax County Student Peace Awards recipients by entering their names into the Congressional Record.
Event organizer and program co-founder (2006), Margaret Fischer said Megan E. Corrado, Acting Deputy Director of Alliance for Peacebuilding of The United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA) was the keynote speaker. In addition to her role at the Alliance for Peacebuilding, she is an adjunct professor at the George Washington University, where she teaches gender, human rights, and international law.
The Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County is organized by volunteers and funded by donations from 17 secular and religious sponsoring organizations, including the Peace Awards founders and the Herndon Friends Meeting, a Quaker community in the Town of Herndon. Fisher said that for the students' efforts toward peace, they will be gifted the book, “Sweet Fruit from the Bitter Tree: 61 Stories of Creative & Compassionate Ways out of Conflict,” donated by author Mark Andreas and the publisher.
Six years ago, on March 10, 2019, Connolly stood before a crowd of student peacemakers, their loved ones, friends , and others gathered late that Sunday afternoon to celebrate the 2019 Fairfax Student Peace Makers at the Sherwood Community Center. Connolly said in his remarks, as reported by The Connection, "It's not easy to be the peacemaker. Sometimes, it is really hard, especially when you make those around you, even friends, angry when you speak out and stand up for what is right. And sometimes it can be dangerous. But in all instances, being the peacemaker requires courage and commitment,"
Among the 27 well-deserved 2025 Peace Awardees are the following students. Their resolve to courageously and compassionately stand up for peace, putting differences aside and taking decisive steps for peace and understanding reflects the actions of all awardees.
* Jayden Lee is a senior at Centreville High School. He established the Centreville High School chapter of Amnesty International, where club members learn about and advocate for human rights. As the president of the school's UNICEF club, Jayden organized the "Water Walk," to promote awareness of the needs of impoverished children. Local "students walked about two miles carrying a gallon of water, raising money for UNICEF while helping people concretely understand some of the challenges faced by children who have to walk long distances to obtain water for household needs."
* Jahnavi Nandanavanam, a South Lakes High School senior, is part of a 250-person Indian Classical Symphony joined by 600 dancers. "We were celebrating the unity of humans and showing how we can overcome conflict through sharing our culture and artistic diversity. A worldwide audience sees that peace can begin through cultural exchange and understanding," Nandanavanam says.
* Ava Saunders and Grace Varughese are the co-presidents of the Hayfield chapter of Students Demand Action. The nonpartisan organization works to end gun violence by advocating for common-sense firearm legislation, promoting safe and secure firearm storage, and endorsing political candidates based on their gun policies rather than on party affiliation. They went to Richmond for Students Demand Action's advocacy day and received a standing ovation as they discussed that guns are the number-one cause of adolescent deaths and that students should feel safe at school.
* The Muslim Student Association at Justice High School fosters a community for Muslims and educates their fellow students about Islam and Islamic culture. The association organized a school-approved demonstration to spread awareness about Palestine that was attended by a few hundred Muslim and non-Muslim students. A video of the event received some hostile comments online, but club members did not respond in kind. Club President Dania Eldirdiri says, "Instead of meeting hostility with hostility, we wanted to have a conversation. We took time to respond to comments with the message that Islam is a religion of peace."
* Jonathan "JJ" Johnston is a senior at Quander Road School. He finds inner peace in his artistic work, which positively influences all aspects of his life and the people around him. School staff reports "that his positive leadership has resulted in his ability to calm down students and help his classmates understand that avenues other than anger can help them get out of negative situations."
* Mia Martin-Escandarani, a senior at Edison High School, works to counter antisemitism through dialog and education. She participates in conversations in the Jewish Community Relations Council Student-to-Student program, allowing space for "respect, curiosity, and empathy between groups," and in the StandWithUs Kenneth Leventhal High School Internship program. Exchanges with people who disagree with her can be challenging, but Mia has learned to remain calm. "Silence allows evil to take place. None of us can be bystanders. We must do something," Mia says.
Video link to the 2025 Student Peace Awards ceremony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5M0FgCVZeg