Irvine Resident Sonit Joshi Receives Congressional Gold Medal Award

Irvine resident Sonit Joshi is a junior at Rancho Santa Margarita Catholic High School. Since the age of six, he’s been a competitive swimmer at the Irvine Novaquatics swim club, and a member of his school’s Varsity Division 1 swim team since his freshman year.

Balancing academics with 6000+ yards of swim practice six days a week, he was awarded the Scholar Athlete Award in both his freshman and sophomore years.

Beyond the pool, Sonit achieved the “Certificate of Merit” for completing all ten levels of piano and he is a first-degree black belt in Taekwondo. He also participated in the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), where he was able to hone his engineering skills.

Focused on giving back to the local community, Sonit has coached kids 5-18 years of age at Stonegate Seahawks as part of an all-volunteer team that provides youth an opportunity to be members of a competitive swim team. He has also worked with the Dynamic Book Club of Orange County as a student volunteer for literacy projects.

This summer, Sonit will be traveling to Washington, D.C., where he will receive the Congressional Gold Medal Award for his hundreds of hours of community service work. (The Congressional Gold Medal Award is the highest youth civilian award given by the United States Congress.)

Irvine Community News & Views congratulates Sonit on this prestigious award!