Kartikeye Gupta is currently the most promising candidate for the senior class valedictorian, and he’s been working towards this goal since freshman year. Gupta’s grade point average is currently an 8.76, with his SAT score at 1570 and PSAT at 1480, which awarded him with the National Merit Scholarship.  

Gupta’s desire to reach for valedictorian is a high hope and through it all his friends have always been there for him. 

“My friends have always been really helpful and making sure I stay on track and motivated to succeed,” said Gupta. 

At Steinbrenner he is also active in clubs and serves as the president of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Mu Alpha Theta and National Honnor Society (NHS). He’s also co-president of the South Asian Student Association (SASA) and the district historian for Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA). 

Outside of school, Gupta is an active member of the community and co-founded a nonprofit, Back on Track America.  

“Our goal is to spread the love for teens helping their community and helping the homeless and those suffering from food insecurity,” said Gupta. 

They’re currently in seven states including Texas and New York and are actively working on putting chapters in Connecticut and Virgina. But most recently they started a new chapter in California, which is an easier process to set up than some may think. 

“Most of the time people reach out to us through finding our Instagram, or we reach out to people we know there. It usually starts out small, like just a group of friends and it expands pretty quickly with larger groups of people getting involved,” said Gupta. 

In the future, Gupta doesn’t have a certain college in mind but wants to study data science or statistics and continue a career in non-profit work.