Dragon Challenge Winners Named to Register’s 125 Most Influential List

The honors continue for Orange County teens Ashima Sharma and Vedant Dayal, who devised and implemented a community service project called Heart-to-Art this past summer as members of the Dragon Kim Foundation Fellowship program after experiencing cancer firsthand in their own lives.

The 17-year-old Orange County School of the Arts students recently have been named to the Orange County Register’s list of the 125 Most Influential People in Orange County.

In September, they won the 2024 Dragon Challenge, which is the culminating event produced by the Foundation, an Orange County-based nonprofit - http://dragonkimfoundation.org - whose mission is to inspire our youth to impact their communities while discovering and pursuing their passions.

Earlier this year, the Foundation provided them with advanced leadership and business training along with up to $5,000 to bring to life their vision. Noticing a lack of diverse therapeutic options for cancer patients, who typically only had visual arts, the students conducted free summer camps that included dance, music, theatre, and creative writing.

The camps were held in seven cities. Partners included Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Sunshine Kids, the Sunrise Day Camp OC, Samueli Foundation Children’s Hospital of Orange County and Ronald McDonald House.

Their project impacted 1,449 cancer patients, survivors, and family members directly and more than 7,000 indirectly. The cost per impact was just $1.96. Over 84% of patients sad they experienced a decrease in stress levels following their participation in the expressive art workshops. As Challenge winners, the teens were awarded another $5,000 to continue their project.

Upon winning the Challenge, the teens reflected on their experience:

“This win allows us to continue filling our hearts—and those of others—by running more workshops for cancer patients, survivors, and their families,” said Ashima. “Beyond the funding, we’ll also have ongoing support from the Dragon Kim Foundation, which was instrumental to our success this year. We have big plans for Heart-to-Art as we look to not expand with our existing partners and to reach out to new organizations and hospitals.”

Vedant said, “Though Ashima and I stand on this stage today, we do so with the support and strength of our entire community—partners who took a chance on us, participants who believed in us, and volunteers who donated their time towards the cause. The day after the Dragon Challenge, Heart-to-Art hosted art workshops with Sunshine Kids at Universal Studios. This event broadened the project's scope from a regional scale to a national level.”

To apply for the 2025 Dragon Fellowship that is open to students in grades 9-12 in California, Nevada, and Arizona, visit http://dragonkimfoundation.org or call (949) 229 –1396.

To learn more about sponsorships, contact Dragon Kim Foundation Co-founder and Executive Director Daniel Kim at development@dragonkimfoundation.org

The Fellowship was founded in honor of the late Dragon Kim, a talented young musician, athlete, and scholar who wanted to help others, and has become a seedbed for the next generation of creative thinkers and entrepreneurs who want to make a difference in their communities.

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About the Dragon Kim Foundation

The Dragon Kim Foundation was established in 2015 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization by Grace and Daniel Kim to honor the memory of their late son Dragon Kim, who had been attending the Orange County School of the Arts. The mission of the Dragon Kim Foundation is to inspire our youth to impact their communities while discovering and pursuing their passions. Visit the website at http://dragonkimfoundation.org.