Aanvi Goel, 16, and Riya Mehta,14, both students at Xavier College Preparatory from the Town of Paradise Valley, and Karina Koppikar,15, a student at Chaparral High School, have been named to the 2023 Fellowship Class of the Orange County, California-based nonprofit Dragon Kim Foundation as of June 9.

As fellows, they will be implementing innovative community services projects this summer, according to a press release. Cumulatively, the projects will benefit thousands of people, including many from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.

Along with fellow team members, the girls will receive three weekends of leadership training and hands-on guidance from mentors, plus a grant of up to $5,000 from the foundation to implement a social service project in their local community this summer.

The teens have created My Tasty Table, a project that aims to provide those affected by food insecurity with the education they need to improve their diets. They will do this by hosting cooking classes where they will teach individuals affected by food inequality how to make fun and healthy recipes. Prospective locations include Saint Vincent de Paul, Swift Youth Foundation and Palomino Boys and Girls Club, according to the release.

My Tasty Table will also teach these individuals their curriculum, containing information on how to find and use ingredients on a tight budget, the release stated. The mission is to give everyone access to a balanced, healthy diet, regardless of what their budget looks like.

So far, the classes have been a success and Goel, Mehta and Koppikar hope to host many more. Some of their favorite nutritious but inexpensive meals include quinoa salad, energy bites and fruit parfaits.

The leadership training, which elsewhere can cost several thousand dollars, is provided for free to each Dragon Fellow. At the end of the program, the top three teams will present their projects at the annual Dragon Challenge. One team will win additional funding to continue their project.

”We congratulate My Tasty Table and sincerely thank all of the students who took their time to submit their wonderfully creative entries to the 2023 Dragon Kim Fellowship Program,” Dragon Kim Foundation Board Chairman Daniel Kim said in the release. “We thank our sponsors, mentors and other supporters for their belief in our program and look forward to another year of helping these teens bring attention to important issues in their communities that need to be addressed.”

The fellowship was founded in 2015 in honor of the late Dragon Kim, a talented young musician, athlete and scholar who wanted to help others. It has become a seedbed for the next generation of creative thinkers and entrepreneurs who want to create positive change, the release stated.

For more information, visit http://dragonkimfoundation.org.