2023 Honorees

Julius “Hunnter” Goins is a senior at Druid Hills High School—a high-achieving student with a 4.3 GPA. He is a champion for change, and an avid community volunteer who participates in many academic and community organizations.

Hunnter’s interest in entertainment started at an early age from watching a movie on The Disney Channel. He found it entertaining and knew it would be a good fit because he liked mastering characters, and the ability to draw emotion from people and make them get lost in a story. This passion led him to audition for Disney, and the results got him training and advice from celebrities who had accomplished things he only dreamed of. After that, he joined ACT-N-Up Youth Theatre for coaching, and began auditioning to highlight his talent; he started getting offers for background and supporting roles for different shows and plays. Some of his work includes The Paynes, Hap and Leonard, Ms. Fannie’s Neighborhood, A Piece of My Mind, Business and Money Matters, and What the World Needs Now. Hunnter also enjoys reading, playing sports, spending time with family and friends, traveling, and helping others empower themselves with positive thinking.

He prides himself on being honorable, respectful, driven to succeed, and a 21st century leader who values diversity and equality.

James Rhee is a junior at The Westminster Schools, and has been serving with his family in his community since elementary school. As he got older, his family challenged him to find what he was personally passionate about.

As a diehard who has played multiple seasons, James realized that sports was his community. He co-founded Double Play ATL in 2017 to help kids who want to play but lack adequate gear. 21 drives and 35+ partners later, they have donated more than $90,000 in gear, and created a scholarship for kids in their community in partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods. In 2021, James founded the Triple Play Money Management Program to further level the playing field. His goal is to teach about money management, which is critical for life success but isn’t taught in schools. In partnership with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, James has hosted financial education webinars locally, nationally, and internationally, focusing especially on underserved communities.

For his service work, he is grateful to have received the Congressional Gold Medal, President’s Volunteer Gold Service Award, and was named as one of Atlanta INTOWN’s 20 under 20. Outside of service, James is passionate about writing, sports injury prevention, and baseball. James is a 10-time Scholastic Art and Writing Award winner, 2024 co-Editor-In-Chief of school newspaper, The Westminster Bi-Line, and an alum of the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio, the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshops, and the Yale Journalism Symposium. After recovering from two back fractures between 2019 and 2020, Jamers came back and was humbled to be named a Georgia Dugout “Top Newcomer” for 2022, and has been an impact player on Westminster’s Varsity baseball team.

Cameron Hammond is a senior at Colleyville Heritage High School in Dallas/Fort Worth. In the fall, he will attend a prestigious university to pursue a degree in Engineering Physics.

Born in the Washington, D.C. area, he enjoyed visits to the Smithsonian, and developed a passion for academic excellence and STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math) at a young age. He was honored by The College Board National Recognition Programs for exemplary academics and test scores for African Americans, and received a national honorable mention award from the Dr. Martin D. Jenkins program for gifted Black children. With advanced college degrees, Cameron hopes to pursue a career in environmental justice to help impoverished communities with engineering innovation. He has maintained above a 5.0 GPA with AP courses, and he also excels on the football and baseball field, being recognized by the National Football Federation Gridiron Club of Dallas as a Scholar Athlete of the year, and the Texas High School Coaches Association Academic All State Team for the highest GPA of a defensive end in 2022. Outside of football, cameron enjoys mentoring youth, participating in leadership clubs, and fishing with his dad.

Lukas Grossman discovered his love for tennis when he was eight years old while living in Los Angeles.

By the time he was nine, he had started a rigorous training program and began competing on a national level. At age 15, Lukas and his family moved to Atlanta in order to access the best possible tennis training. He enrolled at ICL Academy, an online school geared toward student athletes and artists, which allowed him to maintain academic excellence while also providing time to progress with tennis. As a sophomore at ICL, he pushes himself to take honors and AP courses, and consistently maintains straight A’s. Lukas is also an accomplished pianist and an avid enthusiast of all sports. Although he is not yet committed to a college, Lukas hopes his academic success and high-level tennis skills will lead him to a division-one university. The discipline, focus, and determination that tennis requires have had a tremendous impact on all aspects of Lukas’ life; whether on or off the court, he always strives to bring his A-game to every situation. In addition, Lukas is aware of the importance of having mentors to look up to, and the coaches he works with mean a tremendous amount to him.

In an effort to give back to the community, Lukas makes time to work with younger aspiring tennis players in hopes of becoming a good role model as well. He remains grateful for what tennis brings to his life, and looks forward to how it would allow him to grow as an athlete and as a person.

Sophia was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is currently a junior at Chamblee High School with a 4.37 GPA, and will have completed 11 Advanced Placement courses by the end of this school year. She will graduate in 2024 with an Honors and Distinction Seal, and plans to pursue her interdisciplinary interests in college around urban ecology, public policy, and environmental sustainability, with secondary interests in German language and culture.

Ever since she was in 3rd grade selling cookies as a Girl Scout, she’s had an interest in business and entrepreneurship, as well as community service and helping others. She has since founded two non-profits: ReTakeOut, which repurposes plastic takeout containers by donating them to feed the needy and reduce plastic pollution, and the Southern Youth German Education Association, which promotes fluency in the German language and culture in the Southern United States. For these efforts, she was recognized by Reporter Newspapers and Atlanta Intown as a member of their 2023 “20 Under 20.”

Sophia values being a well-rounded individual, having served as freshman and sophomore class president, captain of her high school basketball and soccer teams, president of the German National Honor Society and German Club, and finally as a Teaching Assistant for an AP German class. She was also selected as a member of the 59th class of the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program in her chosen area of German. She is most proud of being able to balance her entrepreneurial spirit with academics, athletics, leadership, community service and music, and wishes to acknowledge all of the wonderful mentors, teachers, coaches, friends and family that have influenced her.

Tobias Liu is a solo violinist who has performed with the Georgia Philharmonic and at Carnegie Hall from the age of 10. He has won first prize in the Samuel Fordis Young Artists Concerto and the American Protégé Piano and Strings International competitions, and has received honors both locally and nationally, from the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra to the Hilton Head Symphony Youth Concerto Competition.

Tobias was recently named winner of the YoungArts National Competition in violin, and as an orchestral musician, he has served as concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Georgia Music Educators Association All-State Orchestra, and the Westminster Chamber Orchestra. He was also selected as a member of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, where he served as associate principal second violin for their European tours in the summer of 2022. Tobias is a graduate of the Westminster Schools in Atlanta, where he served as a school newspaper editor, music service club president, and a captain of their state-championship-winning Varsity Swim Team. He is also a National Merit Scholar, and the grand prize winner of the Young Achiever Award from the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association.

A first-year student at Yale University, Tobias currently serves as a staff reporter for The Yale Daily News, and is a member of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, having studied under Kyung Yu, Nadir Khashimov, Sonja Foster and Keiko Furness.

Hunter Graves was born in Tucson, Arizona, later moving to Dallas, Texas and now Atlanta, Georgia. With each relocation, he encountered the same challenges of starting over in a new school and building new friendships; Hunter built a spirit of resilience and an appreciation of being kind to others.

Like many children, Hunter became fascinated with computers. He was enrolled in Emagination summer STEM camps, and was soon able to blend his empathy for people with his love of computers. For several years, Hunter served as a program assistant, and also taught computer programming to kids while attending camp at Mercer University. Hunter was recently named a Top 20 Under 20 for his work in the Atlanta aommunity, and was accepted into Morehouse College, Georgia State University, Howard University and Illinois Tech. Undecided on which school he will attend, he plans to pursue a degree in computer science with a minor in supply chain management.

As a member of the Science, Math, and Science Honors (SMASH) Academy and INROADS, and now honored as a recipient of the prestigious YOU Award, Hunter has pledged to continue as an active mentor to others. After he graduates, he wants to focus on helping those who are underrepresented in corporate America.

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