Laila Pettus is a graduating senior at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, where she was a National Honor Society Member and an Advanced Placement (AP) Scholar. As a second-year vegetarian, Laila became interested in encouraging healthy eating in minority communities, leading her to participate in her school’s #SOAPbox challenge, arguing for the importance of incorporating healthy, plant-based food options into the DCPS diet. Laila’s passion and commitment to helping bridge the healthy inequity gap transferred into her civic service, empowering her to organize and cultivate a Thanksgiving food drive for homeless veterans while also providing healthy, yet delicious foods. For the next four years, Laila will be attending the University of Miami, majoring in journalism with a minor in Spanish. She hopes to be an editor for the Miami Hurricane Newspaper and create her own talk show on her YouTube channel.
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