Audrey is searching for kids in the Rochester area who are doing big things.
Today she interviews seventeen-year-old Lindsey LeTran who was selected as a 2025 Bezos Scholar. She is a senior at Canandaigua High School and has one younger brother and one older sister. Her favorite book is The Handmaid’s Tale, and her favorite subject is history. Lindsey loves animals, creating video edits, and Vietnamese food. She plays the violin and cello.
Can you tell us about the Bezos Scholars Program?
It’s a year-long leadership development program sponsored by Mike and Jackie Bezos. In June, I attended the Aspen Ideas Festival with my educator, Ashley Fisher, along with world leaders and change makers like Wes Moore and Brené Brown. We spent a week there, getting inspired by all these people and getting to bond as a cohort. There’s seventeen of us, five from Africa and twelve from the US. The rest of the year, each of us will develop a passion project that addresses something that we want to change in our community.
Can you tell me about your project?
I want to talk about student engagement and providing resources for students who can’t typically do extracurriculars. Right now, we’re out interviewing people about the problems they see in the community. After that, we’ll start developing our team, and then we’ll eventually launch our project around February. They give us $1,000 for the first year and the goal is to continue the project, even after I’m out of school.
How did you get involved in all this?
My student government advisor, Miss Fisher, told me about it, but I didn’t initially apply. I thought it was cool, but I thought there’s no way I’d get in with only seventeen kids chosen out of three thousand applicants. But Miss Fisher pushed me to take the leap of faith. So, take all the shots you could take, because you miss all of them if you don’t. Once we got to Aspen, I found out everyone else felt the exact same way. And these are kids who have NASA internships, even a published author. So it’s universal!
What kind of work did you do to get in?
It wasn’t based on accomplishments you’ve already done but having the potential to be an incredible leader and change maker. I had a lot of leadership experience with our State Leadership Council. I was big in student government. I’m on our unified athletics teams and promoting inclusion. Just being active in the community and having your own passions.
How much time do you think you put into this?
Oh, a lot! We’ve had Zoom call meetings every Saturday since May. Those last three to four hours. Then there’s all the individual assignments they have us do to develop our project. So I’d say maybe eight to ten hours a week. But they have really good resources. They provided me with a counselor to help with college applications and take the stress off which is amazing.
What do you think you’ve learned from being a part of the program?
I feel like I’ve changed so much as a person. I’ve been more openly curious. That’s definitely something we learned in Aspen, because we’re meeting so many cool people, and those people are right at our disposal. I got to meet and talk to the CEO of Ford. And I feel like I’ve taken that and brought it into my life. I went to a program at SUNY Geneseo and I got to talk to all the professors. I felt my curiosity growing. Gratitude is something I’ve also learned a lot. And we learned something called twenty seconds of courage, which is whenever you’re doing something that you’re nervous about, just do your twenty seconds of courage and just go for it.
You are also involved in NYSCLSA—what is that?
New York State Council on Leadership and Student Activities. That’s like a statewide leadership council, part of our national student council. I served last year as the secretary and this year as the vice president. We host an annual leadership conference in locations around New York State that is planned fully by students. It’s basically a weekend of leadership development and we invite student councils from all over New York.
Where do you see yourself in the future?
I want to go to law school and I want to be a public servant, but I also just want to live my life to the fullest. I want to continue doing projects that I’m passionate about to change my community. I’d love to do something similar to the Bezos Family Foundation. I want to be someone who can help the future generations; and also travel a lot and see lots of cute dogs.
Is there anything that you want kids to know?
Always be curious! Take those twenty seconds of courage and just put yourself out there. I think while we have so many young people that are doing so many amazing things, there can never be too many.
Do you know a kid who is doing big things? Send Audrey a message! Au***********@gm***.com
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of (585) Kids.
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