Top Teens

Meet the 13 winners of the 2016 Bethesda Magazine Extraordinary Teen Awards

April 7, 2016 1:24 p.m.

Dalal Tambal

Senior, John F. Kennedy High School

It was the week of John F. Kennedy High School’s first home basketball game this past December and senior Dalal Tambal knew that school spirit was flagging.

So Dalal, 18, the president of Kennedy’s Student Government Association (SGA), dispatched SGA members to every class to encourage students to attend the game and wear all black in a “blackout” to show support. Since roughly half of the school’s students are in or have been in the English for Speakers of Other Languages program, she also sent students fluent in Spanish to connect with other Spanish speakers. She went from table to table at lunch to talk up the game, put up posters throughout the school, and promoted it via social media.

“It’s by far the best turnout I’ve seen at a basketball game here,” says SGA sponsor Katherine Young. “She created this amazing sense of school spirit and camaraderie.”

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That level of energy, positivity and desire for inclusiveness defines everything the Silver Spring teen does, Young says, whether it’s organizing a dance, designing “Fear the Cavs” T-shirts as an SGA fundraiser, or volunteering for one of the causes she supports.

Sharon Fitzgerald, lead tutor-trainer at George B. Thomas Sr. Learning Academy in Silver Spring, says Dalal, an academy volunteer, is particularly gifted at communicating with students from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. That may be because Dalal, the daughter of Sudanese immigrants, grew up speaking Arabic and regularly travels to visit family in Qatar, Bahrain, Sudan and Dubai. “I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t fit in, and I want to make sure everyone feels like their opinions matter,” Dalal says.

Dalal is in Kennedy’s Leadership Training Institute, a program that requires students to take several AP classes and participate in community service events. She hopes to attend the University of Maryland or Towson University.  “It’s really fun to be involved with school activities,” Dalal says. “I want everyone to experience what it’s like to be part of the community.”

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