Lucy Westlake Earns 2022 Barron Prize For Young Heroes

NAPERVILLE, IL — Naperville's Lucy Westlake has had quite the year. Westlake, who in May became the youngest American woman to summit Mount Everest, recently received the 2022 Barron Prize for Young Heroes for her ongoing work to curb the global water crisis.

On its website, Barron Prize officials praised the more than $30,000 Westlake has raised to help provide access to clean drinking water for residents in Uganda and other parts of the world. Westlake has had a pen pal in Uganda since she was 13 years old, and learning about the country's struggles with access to potable water inspired her to start working to combat global water scarcity.

Westlake, who has summited the highest peaks in all 50 states, has used her platform to bring awareness to the water scarcity and to raise funds to help combat it in both nearby and remote areas.

In April, Westlake told Patch she had recently gone to Uganda to work on water sanitization projects and help fix a water project her family had previously installed. She said her "biggest passion is for the world water and sanitation crisis."

Of the Barron Prize, Westlake, who is now a student athlete studying public policy at University of Southern California, told Patch in a statement,

"I am honored to be a 2022 recipient of the prestigious Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes award. Receiving an award like this gives me confidence that my work really matters and inspires me to keep fighting for safe water for all people. I want to thank the Barron Prize committee for recognizing my work and providing a monetary scholarship to help continue my efforts. I also want to thank WaterStep for always believing in me and providing endless opportunities for a teenager to make a positive difference in this world. They have supported my dreams and hard work for the past six years since I was 13 years old. My greatest hope is that I can inspire other young people to be passionate for a cause they care about and take action to make our world a better place."

Westlake added that she hopes her current studies will help her become an "influential global policy leader in the water sector."

Since its inception in 2000, the Gloria Barron Prize has been awarded to 550 young people throughout all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada to honor their efforts raising more than $26.4 million to benefit humanitarian causes.

More About Lucy Westlake:

Naperville Teen Becomes Youngest American Woman To Summit Everest

Naperville Teen Aims To Set Record, Inspire Others With Everest Climb