JA 18 Under 18 2025
KIRA BABST
Kira is civic-minded and a tireless advocate currently completing her junior year at Archbishop Spalding High School. Since her freshman year, she has led numerous efforts to raise money to fight cancer. As a team leader of Spalding’s Cancer Wrecking Crew, Kira fosters entrepreneurship, marketing, and project management skills in other students while funding cancer research as a candidate for Student Visionary of the Year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A natural leader, Kira also participates in student government, manages her school’s ice hockey team, and co-founded Spalding’s chapter of Morgan’s Message, a nonprofit that aims to reduce stigma around student-athletes’ mental health. Whether it’s attending mission trips or volunteering with the breast cancer-focused AmyStrong Foundation, Kira is always finding new ways to give back to her community.
“Kira is exceptionally resourceful and enthusiastic in all her activities…She focuses on serving others and is determined to make this world a better place.”
—Megan Bowers, school counselor