March 2024 Superintendent's Superstar

Jaspreet Sahota, junior at Sanger West High School, is passionate about science and service to others. Her GPA is 4.5. She has been a Fresno County Science Fair competitor since 2021, focusing on researching cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Through her research on those diseases, she has competed at the regional, state and International Science Fair, where she presented her research in Atlanta and Texas. Her love of science is also apparent in her participation in Empower STEM, an initiative she founded to assess the lack of STEM literacy, identity and achievement in the community. Through this program, Jaspreet has worked with Cradle2Career, The Children’s Movement and the Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools to bring STEM workshops to students.

Jaspreet is also a member of her school’s Youth Health Corps, where she has participated in addressing, assessing and researching food insecurity on a community-wide level. Through this pursuit, the corps created the Honeycomb Pantry, which is open to the entire school to combat the high rates of food insecurity their research found. To date, they have secured a $30,000 grant to support the initiative. Since the summer of 2023, Jaspreet worked in Dr. Miller’s NOMAD lab at Fresno State where she pursued computational neuroscience research focused on meta-analyses analyzing brain regions triggered by mental health disorders.

In addition to her academic pursuits, Jaspreet is a member of the California Community schools Advisory Panel where she is engaged in helping underprivileged youth in the Central Valley with the goal to uplift and empower them. 

As a Punjabi and Sikh, Jaspreet helped organize her school’s Sikh Honor and Service Society, a program that is part of the Jakara Movement to represent and advocate for California Sikhs. Through the club, she helps educate and inform the community about the Sikh people.