Kady McKenna

Kady is a 17 year-old honors and Advanced Placement student at Lake Highland Preparatory School (LHPS) in Orlando, FL. She has completed a fellowship with the prestigious Miss Porter’s School-Porter's Center for Global Leadership Change Maker's Institute, spoken at VOGUE Headquarters in the World Trade Center as Class Ambassador for VOGUE Summer School and recently completed the American Politics Academy at Georgetown University. As an active member of the student body, Kady serves on the LHPS Honor Council, Speech and Debate Team, is a member of Rho Kappa Honor Society, is a Varsity Cheerleader, is the founder of the LHPS Environmental Impact Club and represents the Chinese language department at local events as their 2020-2021 Student of the Year. She is an AAU Academic All-American Scholar and was selected as 1 of only 9 students chosen statewide to receive the Florida Agricultural History & Creativity award from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Kady has participated in the sport of baton twirling since the age of 7 and is a national strut champion with top 3 finishes in all national events, won Miss Majorette of Florida (Intermediate level) and was the AAU Florida Junior High Champion. An avid community volunteer, Kady has served as a Florida House of Representatives and Senate Page, completed her Girl Scouts Bronze Award, is a 4-time recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award Gold Medal and was inducted into the National Points of Light Inspiration Honor Roll. Kady further serves her community as Miss Orlando’s Teen and was the 1st runner-up to Miss Florida’s Teen 2025.

Kady launched her 501c3 non-profit, eTreasure, Inc., in March 2015. Since then, Kady and her charity have been recognized as a global leader in electronics collection and recycling, awarded the Everyday Young Hero Award by Youth Service America and the Newman’s Own Foundation, the President’s Environmental Youth Award, Action for Nature’s International Eco Hero Award Winner and Kady was selected the Young Environmentalist of the Year by the John Muir Association. She currently serves as the youngest Youth Ambassador ever selected for the Aeras Foundation, working to close the digital divide. Kady’s book, “Sammy the Cell Phone Gets Thrown Away” won the Independent Press Award and the 2022 BookFest Award. It is available on Amazon and the Library of Congress Children’s Reading Room. On Earth Day 2023, Kady traveled to Boston where she was selected as a TEDx Speaker for her “idea worth sharing” and was selected by Cartoon Network to film a PSA for their world-wide channels as an International Climate Champion. Recently, Kady was asked to present her charity and the work she has done to improve racial disparities to Princeton University as a part of their Princeton Prize in Race Relations. Kady is proud to push for digital equity and inclusion in all communities.