Award presented at the Rotary Institute ‘Tejas – Wings of Change’ in New Delhi by Rotary International President Francesco Arezzo
Nidhi Rana, a Class XII science student of Pandit Mohan Lal SD Public School, Sector 32, Chandigarh and a member of Interact Club, one of Rotary International’s youth service programmes for ages 14-18 to develop leadership skills, has been honoured with the Rotary Young Achievers Award, only one of five youth to receive it pan India for 2025.
Nidhi and the other four received a prize of ₹1,00,000, citation and trophy from Rotary International President Francesco Arezzo at the Rotary Institute ‘Tejas – Wings of Change’ in Yashobhoomi Convention Centre, Dwarka, New Delhi last weekend for their exceptional contributions to innovation and community leadership.
According to Rotarian Abha Joshi Sharma, president of Rotary Club Chandigarh, out of 245 applicants, Nidhi made it to the top 5 awarded achievers pan India. Abha Joshi had forwarded Nidhi’s entry from among Interact members who applied for the awards.
In a social media post the PML SD Public School said school principal Monica Sharma, having given Nidhi the impetus to forward her name for the award, expressed immense exhilaration over her achievement.
Sharing further details, the Rotary Club Chandigarh president said Nidhi, an internationally recognised young entrepreneur, is the co-founder of StepTern, TetraCaps, and the EcoFlow Initiative, ventures spanning AI-powered education, circular-economy furniture design, and sustainable water engineering.
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She has earned accolades at the Young Founders Summit and multiple national business and innovation competitions, including serving as a Biz-AI Judge at the Axom Youth Innovation Fest. The award-winning innovator is also a ML (machine learning) scholar, two-time Best Delegate at national MUNs (Model United Nations), and volunteer with organisations like Access Life, which supports cancer brave hearts, and Antigone, a youth-led non-profit organization that strives to work toward gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The youth prodigy’s profile does not end there. She is a state-level graphic design competition winner, certified coder, and machine-learning practitioner trained under Stanford, Google, and Harvard programmes.
Her social impact work includes volunteering with Access Life and Antigone, where she also led fundraising initiatives. As Ex-Chartered Interact Club Vice-President, and founder of The Rhetoric League, she has redefined student leadership.
Other Rotary Young Achievers awardees 2025
Akarshana Sathish, founder of ‘The Open Libraries,’ championed literacy by establishing 24 libraries to make books accessible to underserved communities.
Aneesha Narain, a Paul Harris Fellow, has been recognized for her multifaceted humanitarian service, including the impactful Project OGAAN.
Bhavini Bhargava, an international bestselling author whose evocative poetry collection, ‘Unheard,’ has garnered over 30 global awards.
Suhana Saini, a world-ranked Table Tennis prodigy, with multiple World Championship medals and achieving World No. 1 in U19 Girls Doubles.
Inspiring Change Maker awardees
Pushpa Priya — an IT professional and dedicated volunteer from Bengaluru who has served as a compassionate scribe for 1500+ visually impaired students
Dr. Aparna Deshmukh — founder of Abhamaya Old Age Home in Pune, where for over 15 years she has created a sanctuary of dignity and care for abandoned and destitute elders, nurturing more than 70 residents as her own family.
Rudra Prasad Mohapatra — former Junior Warrant Officer of the Indian Air Force, honoured for his continued service to society through veteran welfare, disaster relief, healthcare support, environmental conservation, and community empowerment.
