42 AUGUST 2024 By Kristen Carli Each year, The Youth and Education Office of the City of Phoenix hosts a program called the Outstanding Phoenix Youth Leader of the Year Awards. This honor highlights the remarkable achievements of local high school students who are making positive impacts in Phoenix. The program honors and celebrates ninth through 12th graders who demonstrate exemplary civic engagement within the Phoenix area through nonprofit or volunteer work or by leading a youth initiative in the community. By highlighting their efforts, the program seeks to inspire other young people to get involved, fostering a culture of service throughout the city. To be considered, students first apply on the City of Phoenix website. After an evaluation (complete with a recommendation letter and an essay), select individuals are brought in for in-person panel interviews. Sixteen students across the Valley are selected, each winning a $1,000 cash prize. The District 4 winners for 2024 are Xavier Prep’s Riya Mehta and Maryam Al Qaderi. This win reflects the duo’s achievements while underscoring Xavier’s commitment to nurturing future leaders dedicated to making a difference. Rising junior Riya Mehta co-founded My Tasty Table, an organization dedicated to providing youth nutrition education. The nonprofit focuses on affordability, which can be a significant barrier for those looking to change their eating habits. The organization teaches economically disadvantaged youth how to make healthy snacks while also providing food for their families. Riya serves on the Teen Leadership Board of the Swift Youth Foundation, a volunteer organization that aims to improve the lives of at-risk youth through mentorship and engaging activities. Since 2015, she has been playing club soccer with Phoenix Rising, and her team was named Arizona State Champions in 2024. “It feels great to be named a winner, and I am beyond grateful to have received this amazing award. This recognition has also given me the amazing opportunity to connect with peers who have positively impacted their community throughout Phoenix,” Riya said. Maryam Al Qaderi hopes to become an oncologist one day – and her high school tenure has been spent preparing for this career. She has volunteered at Mayo Clinic, Dignity Health Cancer Institute, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society while engaging in fundraising efforts to enhance the quality of life for cancer patients. Maryam serves as vice president of the HonorHealth Medical Explorers Club and vice president of volunteers at the Phoenix Children’s Teen Board. Next year, she will assume the role of president of the National Honor Society. “This award represents past efforts and illuminates the path ahead, inspiring me to keep striving for excellence both academically and in my community service. I am forever grateful for the opportunities and support I have received from this award,” Maryam said. As they continue to pursue their passions and make a positive impact, their journey encourages future generations of leaders. Congratulations to Riya and Maryam for their outstanding contributions and commitment to making a difference in our community! T ake a walk in any neighborhood in Phoenix, and you’ll undoubtedly come across stately prickly pear cacti showing off their ruby red fruit. If you frequent Mexican markets, pads and fruit are unquestionably available. The delicious juice from a prickly pear fruit tastes like a cross between strawberry and watermelon. Let your imagination run away and consider using the juice in cocktails – or make it more family- friendly by turning it into a jelly. Like anything, it’s not the process of making something that’s difficult, it’s the time- consuming steps that are involved. Personally, the thought of making jam with this fruit has intrigued me for ages. It’s August, it’s hot outside, and ‘tis the season for prickly pear fruit, so let’s dive right into the process of creating something with it. There are a few pieces of equipment required to make the process less intimidating. I don’t work well in heavy gloves, so I opt for the ¾ length rubber kitchen gloves and a pair of metal tongs. It’s best not to use tongs tipped with silicone because the spikes on the fruit will imbed themselves instantly. A simple full twist will unscrew the fruit from the top of the cacti pad. For easy transport, have a cardboard box or a bucket on hand. Once home, find a comfortable chair to sit in. I recommend sitting outside because the messy part is next. Dump the fruit into a bucket of water and submerge. This solves two things: it removes any bird droppings or tiny insects that might be lingering about, and it weighs down the glochids (the tiny hair-like thorns or barbs that are present throughout). Pick up each piece of fruit and gently scrape the surface with a butter knife until it’s smooth. Rinse one more time. If the BBQ is within easy reach, place pieces of fruit atop the grill and roast at roughly 300 degrees. You might be surprised to see how the fruit changes colors throughout the cooking process. A word of warning: Don’t wear any clothing that can’t be spot treated. The fruit will sizzle, spurt out unexpectedly from pin-hole spots, and ooze gracefully. There is little need to repeatedly rotate. Pressing down gently with the tip of the tongs will indicate whether it is soft enough to move to a cooling tray. I remove the hard end that attaches the fruit to the pad and cut it open vertically. Using a handheld orange juicer, I place two or three pieces into a cup and squeeze the juice into a bowl. You might be amazed at seeing the amount of seeds present in each piece. Once all the fruit has been juiced, strain it several times in a mesh cloth inside of a fine strainer to rid it of particles. At this point it is more than noticeable how sweet and syrupy the juice is. Have a rubber spatula handy to clean out the contents. Now comes the fun part. In a copper pan (preferably), add the prickly pear juice (from roughly 100 pieces) and three tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Some folks also use pectin. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil that can’t be stirred down with a wooden spoon, add two cups of fine sugar and mix continuously until the sugar has dissolved. Add two teaspoons of Grand Marnier and continue cooking until it has reduced by roughly half. Tasting spoons are a necessity! Dip a metal spoon into the bubbly mixture and check its consistency. This is where time and constant stirring comes into play. Some recipes cite seven minutes; other recipes cite more. For me it was all about tasting the coating on the spoon. With every minute that passed, the smoothness and velvetiness changed. My batch cooked for 21 ½ minutes until the consistency was exactly where I wanted it. This mixture, reminiscent of honey with its finger-licking stickiness, filled three six oz. jelly jars! Arizona’s natural simple syrup Honoring the Valley’s high school change makers Thyme in My Kitchen BY SHERRY KLUSMAN thyme.in.my.kitchen August’s cookbook recommendation: “Short & Sweet” by Dan Leppard August’s novel recommendation: “Summer Bird Blue” by Akemi Dawn Bowman August’s recipe: Prickly Pear Jam Maryam Al Qaderi Riya Mehta