Lillian Hertel

Lillian Hertel, a special award winner in our 2022 My Impact Challenge, is a rising senior at Benilde-St. Margaret’s School, in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. In her three years, she joined the speech team, mock trial team, women in STEM club, and queer book club.

A fan of social studies and history, Lillian notes that if given the opportunity to follow anyone on social media, assuming they were alive today, she would follow Hypatia of Alexandria – a prominent thinker and considered one of the first female mathematicians. Her greatest influence however, is not a historical figure but rather “a lot of young activists that have made significant contributions to the world around them; there are a lot in [her] local community that have done beneficial work surrounding climate and racial justice, and on the national and global level [she] finds Greta Thunberg and David Hogg particularly inspiring.”

Lillian’s motivation for her project entry was “experiencing first hand how difficult getting involved with advocacy could be, and wanting to make it easier for other people who want to help their communities.” In the name of helping her community, Lillian plans to go to law school following the completion of her undergraduate degree.