In collaboration with the 2023 Advocacy Dinner and Awards Ceremony Partner, United Healthcare, we presented this year’s Children’s Week Florida™ Youth Advocate Award on March 27, 2023 to Sruthi Sentil for her work on behalf of peer connections and mentorship.
Sruthi is an IB senior at Rickards High School and an advocate for positive peer connection. As the founder of BuddyKnit, she’s creating companionship and educational mentoring relationships between high-school mentors and students from under-resourced communities. She partners with the Leon County Schools Title I Program, case managers for the Florida Department of Children and Families, and other community-based care organizations to uplift siloed students with her role models.
With over 100 active matches across Leon and Escambia counties, BuddyKnit’s raised over $20,000 in grants, covering financial needs for all matches while supporting a Robotics Expo Initiative bringing hands-on exploration to elementary schools during the day. Beyond BuddyKnit, Sruthi is the Co-Chair of the Leon County Student District Advisory Council, advocating for high-school voices in the LCS School Board’s initiatives. Sruthi is simultaneously an accomplished researcher employed under the University of Florida and USDA to discover agricultural AI solutions.
She’s a 2X Winner of Grand and Special awards at the International Science and Engineering Fair, a Regeneron Science Talent Search Top 300 Scholar, and was honored by the National Center for Women & Information Technology as one of the Top 40 girls in technology nationwide. She also attended the Research Science Institute at MIT, the world’s most prestigious summer program with only 80 students invited globally. Congratulations Sruthi!
