District 10 - Navya Gautam - Gold

Navya Gautum | Legislator Tom Cilmi's Honoree | Gold Award

Navya Gautam is a 9th grader from Hauppauge High School. She will be in 10th grade in the Fall of 2020. She has earned the GOLD Medal and I am very proud of her accomplishments.

Navya had to complete 200 hours of volunteer service which is no easy task to take on while going to school. She volunteered at the Hauppauge Public Library, Keep Islip Clean, Kuman Tutoring Center, Youth Bureau of Smithtown and also tutored 2 students in 2nd grade and 6th. She learned a lot from giving her time to help others. It made her feel good that she was making a difference in someone's life and it taught her to be more compassionate towards others.

She loves working with kids and therefore tutored on her free time to help these students get better grades and help in their overall performance in the classroom. She also enjoyed volunteering with the Summer Reading Program at the library where she motivated kids to read more.

Navya challenged herself and set goals to achieve. She wanted to master Algebra. She devoted extra time and studying and reviewing for her tests and tried new methods on how to study. She also made the Science Olympiad Club in her school, but due to COVID-19, that club was ultimately cut short.

She loved exploring our great Suffolk County Parks and enjoyed the overall experience. She had no idea all the great parks we have right here in Suffolk County. She went and visited marina parks by the ocean, nature preserves and parks with beaches. She had never been camping outdoors so this was the closest thing to experience that and it was wonderful. It was huge step for her to get out of her comfort zone and explore the outdoors.

She set many personal goals to become more physically fit such as working on improving her mile time for running, working out in the gym and even jogging in her neighborhood. She now loves to exercise.

I am so proud of Navya for continuing with the Distinguished Youth Program and achieving all she set out to do. I wish her success in her future and I know she will accomplish everything she sets her mind to do.