Tandon first-year Kyra-Lee Harry has been honored with National 4-H Youth in Action Citizenship Pillar Award for her commitments to youth issues.

Four-H Club is community organization working to support youth and engage with them through projects on healthy living, civic engagement, STEM and agriculture. With six million participants, it is the largest youth development organization in the United States.

According to 4-H Club’s website, this award recognizes youth who have been impactful leaders in their communities. According to a Tandon press release, Harry is the first 4-H Club member in New York to ever win this award.

Harry joined 4-H Club in the sixth grade and began working with mentors, who helped her develop her passions for STEM and service. At 15 years old, she was the youngest person to ever be sworn in on a Brooklyn community board.

To be considered for this award, Harry had to go through a rigorous process, involving a written application with essays and recommendation letters, a video submission and an interview with 4-H Club board members.

“[Winning the award] truly means a lot,” Harry said. “I say that it means a lot because I’m helping others and I’m living by that principle of helping others, not just saying it, but doing it.”

Harry received a call from a 4-H Club council member in December, informing her she would be receiving an early Christmas present from them. Soon thereafter, Harry found out she had won the award, which was publicly announced on Jan. 17.

Harry said the award has garnered a lot of attention in her community and at NYU. It also has put her passion for helping others on display.

“I always say that engineering has no set definition,” Harry said. “It’s about people who want change, want to know how they can go about implementing change and what it is that they can do to help, and that’s what I live by.”

Harry credits her parents as her role models. She said her parents inspire her because of their altruism and selflessness qualities, which she strives to have.

Harry is currently the first-year ambassador for the National Society of Black Engineers. She hopes to work toward making engineering an inclusive field. As the only black student in many of her classes, she already feels she is working to make NYU a more inclusive community.

“NSBE [National Society of Black Engineers] is all about building connection for black engineers to help impact the community, and for me, I just want to make sure that I’m able to be a part of that community. Harry said. “I want to be amongst the black engineers who are revolutionizing the way engineering is seen.”

Email Darcey Pittman at [email protected]