In early 2007, high school student Zachary Peskin founded Special People Helping Others, Inc (SpPHO) ¯ an organization designed to create meaningful opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities to build self-esteem and social awareness by helping others.
Early on, Zachary observed his family and various practitioners interacting with his older brother, Adam, who is autistic. Zachary was keenly aware of Adam's eagerness to help friends, family and the community in various ways and the satisfaction and enthusiasm that Adam displayed at the completion of each activity. Helping and supporting others gave him joy ¯ from making pancakes for the family (an activity he learned at school) to helping his teachers prepare and clean up the classroom. Zachary also observed this eagerness to help others while conducting the Special Needs Tennis Program which he founded for children and adolescents with disabilities. Over the last few years, Zachary noted that the highlight of each participant's experience focused not necessarily on playing tennis, but on helping to pick up the tennis balls at the end of each game. Similar to the empowerment that all individuals feel when helping others, those with developmental disabilities experience these same feelings of worth and contribution. SpPHO is based on these observations and the larger premise that individuals with developmental disabilities can achieve exceptional benefits in personal growth by helping others, while simultaneously demonstrating their ability to be a positive force in our communities.
Zachary's efforts with SpPHO were recently recognized by WMTR-AM Radio (Cedar Knolls, NJ) with the Kids Who Rock Award. In addition to his commitment to SpPHO, Zachary is a USTA-ranked junior tennis player and a member of the Millburn varsity tennis team. He is the founder of the Special Needs Tennis Program for adolescents and children with disabilities, member of the Millburn High School Peer Leaders (Millburn, NJ) and an editor of The Miller, the Millburn High School newspaper. Zachary is an avid reader, particularly in the area of economics, and has conducted professor-supervised research related to the modeling of economic and social impacts of international exchange rate dynamics.
Jason O'Neill founded the company Pencil Bugs in November 2005, right after he turned 10 years old.
Pencil Bugs attach to a standard pencil via a pipe cleaner body. Each bug has a Styrofoam head with antennae and eyes and comes with its own Certificate of Authenticity, which includes its name, the day it was "born" and instructions on the proper care and training of a Pencil Bug. What started as a simple craft fair product a few years ago is now a full-fledged business for O'Neill, complete with a city of Temecula business license, a state tax identification number and a Web site for sales.
O'Neill donates 5 percent of Pencil Bugs sales to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. The other 95 percent goes right back into the product itself.
Mayur is finishing his Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University where he cofounded Ardent Cell Technologies, a cell therapeutics company entering clinical trials. Before joining Columbia he worked at Boston Consulting Group designing predictive models and precision medicine product pipelines for healthcare giants like Boston Scientific. He believes that opportunities shaping and contributing towards value based care are the way forward.
