students across Years 1, 2, and 3
2025-2026 Impact Report
Learning that
moves the world.
Byram Hills High School Global Scholars turn global challenges into local action—investigating complex issues, listening to communities, and building solutions with measurable impact.
Explore the impact
9SDGs
advanced
advanced
Impact at a glance
Ideas became action.
Action became impact.
raised for communities and causes
tangible resources and services delivered
students and community members directly educated
Student teams also generated more than 125,000 digital views and connections, extending their messages far beyond the school community.
Our purpose
Think globally.
Lead empathetically.
Act meaningfully.
Through an interdisciplinary approach, the Byram Hills High School Global Scholars Program prepares students to be collaborative and empathetic leaders.
Students investigate local and global issues from multiple perspectives, analyze diverse viewpoints, communicate ideas, and take action to create change. The UN Sustainable Development Goals provide a shared language for connecting each project to the world’s most urgent challenges.
A three-year journey
From awareness to agency
Each year deepens students’ ability to understand the world and act within it.
Year One
Investigate
Build global awareness, study the SDGs, examine multiple perspectives, and practice empathy.
Year Two
Create
Use design thinking to develop a Changemaker Project with a community partner and a measurable goal.
Year Three
Lead
Mentor younger scholars, facilitate dialogue, develop and strengthen initiatives, and reflect on their growth as global citizens, changemakers, and leaders.
The Changemaker Project
Students did not stop at understanding a problem.
They interviewed stakeholders, tested ideas, formed partnerships, raised funds, created educational campaigns, and measured what changed. Their work addressed health, education, poverty, equity, sustainability, and human rights.
Explore the collective impactCumulative SDG impact
Many projects. Nine shared global goals.
Student teams approached interconnected challenges from different directions. Together, their research, advocacy, fundraising, education, and service advanced nine UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Because many initiatives advanced more than one SDG, the outcomes below show the program’s collective contribution to each goal rather than assigning every result to only one project.
SDG 1 · No Poverty
Meeting essential needs with dignity
Students supported families facing food, clothing, and economic insecurity locally and abroad.
- $7,000+ provided holiday meals and gifts for 24 families
- 84 warm clothing items delivered to adolescents
- Educational resources expanded opportunity in Uganda and Kenya
SDG 3 · Good Health & Well-Being
Expanding care, access, and understanding
Across physical health, mental health, women’s health, pregnancy support, and accessibility, students connected people with knowledge and care.
- 85 ultrasound services funded
- 80+ wellness and period-product boxes donated
- 63,000+ digital views on health and well-being campaigns
- Partnerships reached healthcare providers, athletes, universities, and community organizations
SDG 4 · Quality Education
Opening pathways to learning
Students taught younger learners, connected classrooms across continents, and funded infrastructure that makes education possible.
- $3,815 raised for education initiatives in Uganda and Kenya
- 18 classroom projectors funded
- 580 elementary students taught about food insecurity
- 534 students and community members benefited in Uganda
SDG 5 · Gender Equality
Supporting women’s health and safety
Student action elevated women’s health, maternal support, and domestic-violence awareness while directing tangible resources to women and families.
- 85 expectant mothers received funded services
- 60+ period-product boxes collected
- 50+ students joined survivor-led learning
- Emergency-support technology and care baskets connected advocacy to action
SDG 9 · Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
Designing tools that widen access
Students used technology and design to address barriers in healthcare, education, personal safety, and mobility.
- Solar infrastructure supported a Ugandan education center
- 18 projectors strengthened classroom learning in Kenya
- Student-built digital tools helped people navigate healthcare and emergency support
- Meta AI glasses launched an accessibility pilot with the Guide Dog Foundation
SDG 10 · Reduced Inequalities
Removing barriers to participation
Projects centered people whose access to healthcare, education, mobility, clothing, and social belonging is too often limited.
- Affordable healthcare resources were made easier to find across Westchester
- Accessibility advocacy paired guide-dog expertise with assistive technology
- Education campaigns challenged antisemitism and other forms of exclusion
- Resources reached communities in Westchester, Uganda, and Kenya
SDG 12 · Responsible Consumption
Making circular choices visible
Students helped community members see how everyday clothing choices can reduce waste and conserve resources.
- 705 pairs of sneakers collected for reuse
- 500 QR codes with sustainable fashion resources shared
- Hundreds of consumers reached with secondhand-shopping education
- Student-created digital tools connected purchases to environmental impact
SDG 13 · Climate Action
Turning awareness into advocacy
Campaigns connected sustainable transportation and circular fashion to measurable environmental benefits.
- 18,000 kg of CO₂ emissions avoided through sneaker reuse
- 5 million liters of water conserved
- 42 constituent postcards sent to a New York State senator
- 3,000+ social views extended clean-transportation education
SDG 16 · Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
Using voice, memory, and civic action
Students preserved testimony, confronted hate, advocated with elected leaders, and created spaces for informed public dialogue.
- 60,000+ people reached through antisemitism education
- 100+ people attended a genocide-awareness art show
- Holocaust-survivor stories preserved through the Living History Program
- State-level advocacy and civic-summit participation strengthened student voice
Want to see the student initiatives behind these shared outcomes?
Explore individual Changemaker Project summariesIndividual Changemaker Projects
The student-led work behind the collective impact
Explore selected projects and the tangible outcomes students achieved with community partners.
SDG 4 · Education
Limitless Learning
Raised funds for solar panels supporting an education center in Uganda.
$2,220raised534people benefited
SDGs 12 & 13
Forever Fashion
Collected sneakers for reuse, keeping resources in circulation and waste out of landfills.
705pairs collected18K kgCO₂ avoided
SDGs 3 & 5
Health for Her
Brought women’s health education to students and collected period products for 914 Cares.
15.2Kviews60+boxes donated
SDGs 5 & 16
Breaking the Cycle
Created an emergency-support app and hosted survivor-led learning about domestic violence.
50+participants4–6care baskets
SDG 13 · Climate
Green Team
Advocated for cleaner large vehicles through public education and state-level outreach.
42postcards sent3K+social views
SDG 3 · Well-Being
Mind Matters
Opened honest conversations about youth mental health and created wellness kits for community partners.
20wellness kits40+people educated
SDG 4 · Education
Beyond the Books
Connected with students in Kibera, Kenya through lessons, pen-pal exchanges, and learning resources.
$1,595raised18projectors funded
SDG 16 · Justice
Jews for Justice
Collected personal stories and shared education designed to challenge antisemitism.
60K+people reached3+schools planned
SDGs 3 & 5
Voices for the Voiceless
Connected expectant mothers with pregnancy support by funding ultrasound services and donating baby supplies.
$2,605raised85ultrasounds funded
SDG 3 · Well-Being
Sideline Supporters
Partnered with athletic organizations and athletes to reduce mental-health stigma in sports.
40KTikTok views15+athletes engaged
SDGs 3 & 10
Pawsible Access
Combined guide-dog expertise with assistive technology to expand mobility options for people with visual impairments.
$500raised1technology pilot
SDGs 12 & 13
FutureFit
Partnered with Fantastic Finds to promote secondhand shopping and raise awareness of fast fashion’s environmental impact.
500resources distributed$170raised
One program, shared action
Impact multiplied when the whole team acted together.
raised to provide holiday meals and gifts for 24 Mt. Kisco Child Care Center families
Coman Hill students taught about food insecurity through Maddie’s Fridge
sweatshirts and sweatpants collected for adolescents experiencing clothing insecurity
community members welcomed to a student-led genocide-awareness art show
Learning, leadership, legacy
Student impact recognized across our community.
Global Scholar Taylor Todman participated in the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center’s Living History Program, interviewed a family member of a Holocaust survivor, and shared his story to preserve memory, promote justice, and combat hate.
Four Global Scholars earned recognition in the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center’s Ben Ferencz Writing and Creative Expression Student Competition, with Jane Goode, Spencer Feldman, and Kaleigh Hermanto placing first, second, and third in Westchester County and Olivia Savitsky receiving an honorable mention for works inspired by courageous upstanders.
Angelina Vataj received HHREC’s Richard Berman Human Rights Leadership Award, recognizing a sustained commitment to justice and social change.
Mount Kisco Child Care Center selected the Byram Hills High School Global Scholars Program as an honoree at its 22nd Annual Feed Me Fresh event, recognizing the program’s meaningful partnership with the Center. The honor celebrates students’ classroom volunteering and holiday fundraising, which helped MKCCC families celebrate with dignity and joy.
The work continues
Global Scholars turns learning into action, empowering students to create meaningful change in their communities and beyond.
Students learned that meaningful change begins with curiosity, grows through collaboration, and becomes real through sustained action.