Two remarkable Mississauga students, 17-year-olds Krishiv Thakuria and Samantha Fung, have been selected from nearly 11,000 applications across 148 countries as top 50 finalists for the 2025 Chegg.org Global Student Prize, an award recognizing exceptional students making a significant impact in education, society, and the lives of their peers. The prestigious $100,000 prize, now in its fifth year, honours young change-makers tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges with innovation and determination.
Thakuria, a student at The Woodlands Secondary School, is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to make education more accessible. A first-generation Indian-Canadian and tech founder, his AI innovations have gained global recognition, with speaking engagements at GITEX Global, Microsoft Canada, World Summit AI, and Stanford’s ASES Summit. At 16, he interned in machine learning at BenchSci, one of Canada’s largest AI companies, before working as an AI engineering consultant at Simple Ventures. His journey into AI began at 13 when he created a tailored computer science course for classmates with learning disabilities, sparking his interest in personalized learning. This led to the creation of Aceflow, an AI tutoring platform now used in over 20 countries, and Charm Bears—AI-powered talking teddy bears designed to help children with dyslexia learn without screens. A Masason Foundation Scholar and Harvard Ventures Fellow, Thakuria plans to study electrical engineering or robotics and hopes to honour his late school principal, Omar Zia, with a donation if he wins the prize.
Fung, currently attending United World College Maastricht in the Netherlands, is the founder of Music For Every Child, a youth-led charity providing free music therapy programs to students with developmental disabilities in underserved communities. Starting in 12 schools, her initiative has expanded to 36 schools across seven Ontario cities, raising over $150,000 with the help of more than 250 student volunteers. Inspired by her early volunteer work in special education and her belief in music as a universal language, Fung has partnered with universities for research collaborations and is now expanding her program internationally to reach youth in countries such as Chad, Uganda, Kenya, and Liberia. Recognized with the Global Youth Award and Diana Award, she aims to make music therapy accessible worldwide while also pursuing a future career in law.
Both students, who once attended the same middle school in Mississauga, embody the spirit of the Global Student Prize through their innovation, leadership, and commitment to improving lives. Their achievements place them among a select group of finalists vying for the $100,000 award, which will be presented to one outstanding student later this year.