Leela Laroia is an incoming freshman at Vanderbilt University. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Singapore American School. She is drawn to the real-world applications of science and to questions studying the path to research breakthroughs. She is a volunteer at Slum Soccer, a NGO in India, that uses football to empower underprivileged youth. She is currently working on a study with them to assess whether economic empowerment of hearing-impaired youth in slums increases their familial acceptance.