Student on shortlist for $100,000 prize

Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa, a climate justice activist from Maplewood, is feeling “incredible.”

The history and environmental studies student who recently graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, has been included in the top 50 shortlist for a Chegg.org Global Student Prize 2024.

Hayakawa was selected from more than 11,000 nominations and applications from 176 countries. The winner will be announced later this year.

“I’m humbled to be recognized,” the 23-year-old said.

Last year’s winner was Nhial Deng, a 25-year-old student who has spent almost half his life in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, He arrived there alone, without family, after fleeing his village in western Ethiopia. He went on to empower more than 20,000 refugees in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya through peacebuilding, education, and entrepreneurship programmes, as well as creating a safe space for young people to heal from their trauma.

Chegg, Inc., is a California-based education technology company. It provides textbooks, homework help, online tutoring, and other services. Chegg.org is the impact, advocacy, and research arm of Chegg addressing the issues facing the modern student.

As deputy executive director of Climate Cardinals, Hayakawa will become its first full-time executive director. Climate Cardinals is the world’s largest youth-led climate nonprofit working to promote climate education to those who don’t speak English.

Hayakawa has been with them since the very beginning.

“It’s been incredible to see how this very simple idea has led to this whole movement within four years,” he said. “It’s something very empowering and exciting. We were just normal teenagers stepping up and making a difference.”

Hayakawa’s future vision for Climate Cardinals is to focus on professionalizing the organization. “It’s no longer sustainable for us to be part-time volunteers,” he said.

“They are in the process of transitioning to paying volunteers and having full time employees.”

Activism began for Hayakawa after Hurricane Sandy hit.

“I began to see how environmental issues were everyone’s issues,” he said.

At first, he focused on climate education and global cooperation. Over time he said he got involved with several different environmental issues.

Giving back to the community was something Hayakawa’s parents instilled in him.

“My mom has been very vocal and taught me to be vocal,” he said. “I didn’t know that advocacy could be a professional career, but I knew I wanted to give back. Growing up, I wanted to do something that would help other people. I didn’t know when I was younger how to run an organization. I just wanted to give back. I learned throughout the journey you don’t have to be special to step into one of these roles—and receive support in the process.”

By “special” Hayakawa explained that he felt a lot of leaders in such movements are incredible people, but every young person or person of any age, who cares about an issue has capacity.

Above all Hayakawa is inspired by his parents.

“They’ve been strong and resilient figures,” he said. “They showed me how to deal with things with grace and to be empathetic towards people; make sure I’m not making life harder for people. To always be considerate.”

His father is Japanese and knows how to speak nine languages. His mother is originally from Guyana in South America but moved to New York City when she was nine years old. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College and earned a master’s degree from New York University and was the first woman in her immediate family to receive a college degree and a masters degree. She met her husband in Madrid, where they were both living at the time.

“I come from a racially diverse and multicultural family background,” she said. “I was exposed to, and have always been interested in different cultures,”

Also, what Hayakawa said has always helped him was being willing to learn from other people and to be willing to speak out when he sees that something is wrong. “Being able to make a difference,” he said.

Having graduated only two months ago, Hayakawa said he’s enjoying connecting with friends and family.

“All the people I like being around, giving me energy,” he said. “Continuing those relations that have been so important to me in this journey.”

In his free time, he likes reading, writing, and playing sitar.

“My mom is part Indian, but I don’t think we have any sitar players in the family. I thought, ‘why not?’” He’s also open to new opportunities and thanks Chegg.org Global for supporting leaders of tomorrow, and leaders of today.

To learn more about Climate Cardinals, visit: https://www.climatecardinals.org/.

  Climate, Maplewood, student