The Rise Challenge winner from Washington State is looking for worldwide solutions to environmental issues

including sustainable technology, ethical consumption, and a healthy population of orcas and salmon. Dreams like this are what an adolescent from Washington looks forward to.

Maanit Goel, a student from Eastlake High School, was just named one of the 100 Rise Global Winners. A former Google CEO is supporting a $1 billion effort that sponsors Rise, a global community and program that provides winners with a range of perks, in collaboration with the same charity that supports the esteemed Rhodes scholarship.

Since the beginning of his senior year this autumn, Goel has also been awarded two more notable young accolades, which come with opportunities for national and international exposure, networking and collaboration with other changemakers, and cash for his projects and college.

He has been recognized for his conservation efforts since the eighth grade, which began with a recycling project in the classroom and his membership in the Sammamish Youth Board. He currently serves as an active leader for the Washington State Legislative Youth Advisory Council and the Washington Youth Ocean & River Conservation Alliance.

He stated that having the assistance to make the necessary changes makes a difference, adding, “I think most people my age don’t get the opportunity to make change or have the mindset to do so.”

More schools and classes assisting children in projects that have an impact on the real world is one answer he sees. However, occasionally one must look for those chances and resources outside of the classroom.

With funding from the Rhodes Trust, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy founded Schmidt Futures, which is the organization behind the Rise Global youth program. It focuses on finding scholars “who may otherwise go undiscovered or unsupported” and nurturing the abilities of those between the ages of 15 and 17.

In 2021, Wendy Schmidt stated to Forbes magazine, “We realized talent is distributed everywhere in the world, but opportunity absolutely isn’t.”

Since the program’s launch in 2019, Goel is the second representative from Washington. The first was Aadya Bhat, who attended Eastlake as well. With her Rise project, she put accessibility first, designing a mechanism that lowers clothes racks to a wheelchair user’s level.

Pokok-Ed is a free online instructional game that Goel developed to simulate the processes of palm oil production and its consequences on workers, farmers, and the environment. His work on Pokok-Ed will be expanded as part of his Rise initiative. He has given schools information on the game and instructed local workshops on it.

Goel also accepted two more honors this fall. The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which honors individuals in North America between the ages of 8 and 18 who have significantly improved the lives of others and the environment, included him among its 25 recipients.

In October, he also made the trip to Berkeley, California, to accept one of the six Brower Youth Awards given to environmental activists. The environmental NGO Earth Island Institute is the sponsor of that program.

Goel was recognized earlier this year for his volunteer work with various conservation and youth leadership groups by the international nonprofit Points of Light, received a President’s Environmental Youth Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and was included in the North American Association for Environmental Education’s “30 under 30” list.

He claims that he approaches opportunities with the following attitude: “I’m going to keep working on this issue whether I get in.” So, I suppose the best advise I can provide is to just work on something you enjoy and are passionate about.