Her volleyball teammates named her the glue.
That is how the indoor team at Da Vinci Communications High School described Mahalet Yonas, their captain. Not for her statistics. For her presence. For the way she held people together.
It is a quiet thing to say about someone. It also says almost everything.
On May 20, 2026, LumenSparQ named Mahalet Yonas the inaugural recipient of the LumenSparQ Empowerment Scholarship, presented at Da Vinci Communications High School’s annual recognition ceremony. The $500 scholarship is the first of its kind for LumenSparQ, created to recognize a graduating senior whose impact on their community is already visible before they leave high school.
The shape of that impact, in Mahalet’s case, is concrete.
As NHS President, she organized blood drives, food drives, and beach cleanups for her school community. She did not inherit a program that was already running. She found needs and filled them.
She also built something from the ground up. Mahalet founded the Marine Conservation Club at Da Vinci, leading monthly beach cleanups and running biweekly sessions on environmental education for other students. She created a program, recruited people into it, and sustained it.
During high school, Mahalet traveled to Turrialba, Costa Rica with Global Glimpse for a two-week service trip. Her group’s project was to restore a community water facility. They completed it without modern technology.
That detail is worth slowing down for. She was not a visitor observing someone else’s problem. She was in it.
Beyond those roles, Mahalet worked as a camp counselor, provided childcare for multiple families, and captained three volleyball programs across multiple years. In each of those settings, she was responsible for other people. She kept showing up.
After graduation, she plans to study Film and English, with a minor in Philosophy, before attending law school. She wants to become an attorney dedicated to helping people.
LumenSparQ’s Lumenary program recognizes adult community leaders across Los Angeles. Its Ember and SparQ initiatives support student-led service projects in schools. The Empowerment Scholarship is something else: a recognition that some students are already doing the work, right now, before anyone hands them a platform or a title.
LumenSparQ did not discover Mahalet Yonas. She was already there, building, leading, showing up. The scholarship just said so out loud.