Pictured: Abigail K., a senior at Sarasota Military Academy. Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.

Our community is filled with many incredible young people doing such amazing things. This summer, we are featuring some of these young people in our Thursday Family & Education edition. Each of the students we are highlighting has been chosen as one of this year’s SRQ Magazine’s top youth leaders based on their values, determination and outstanding achievements in different aspects of their lives in and out of school.

Abigail is a senior at Sarasota Military Academy where she served as Regimental Commander of a unit of approximately 700 cadets. This spring she completed her Girl Scout Gold Award which focused on helping teens with stress management. She is involved in her local Boys & Girls Club and is a board member of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce. Abigail looks forward to studying mechanical engineering at the University of Florida starting this coming year.

We asked Abigail to tell us about her role model.

"My role model is NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli," she told us. "Her story resonates with me as she has a military background and she is a part of NASA’s upcoming Artemis mission. This will make her one of, if not the first woman to visit the moon. Her perseverance and commitment to each thing she does inspires me to bring a similar determination to each thing that I do."

Pictured: Abigail K., a senior at Sarasota Military Academy. Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.