Eastern View freshman Riley Kitts has been selected to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia as a delegate for JDRF 2023 Children’s Congress in Washington, DC this July. JDRF Children’s Congress will bring awareness to type 1 diabetes (T1D) and present on the importance of funding reseach to provide life-changing therapies for those with T1D.
Riley was selected as one of 165 delegates from more than 700 applications due to her “powerful and well-written application,” according to the executive director of JDRF Mid-Atlantic Chapter, Jaclyn Toll Basse. In addition to her application, Riley created a video about her own story with T1D which can be viewed at http://cc.jdrf.org/delegates/riley-4/. Before her work this July with the JDRF Children’s Congress in DC, she is currently working on creating a scrapbook and writing letters to local Representatives and Senators to advocate for support for the T1D community.
According to Riley, “diabetes has never been the thing that prevented me from doing the same activities as others.” She enjoys reading, writing, video editing, and crafting. She has been accepted into the National Junior Honor Society, made her local library’s teen advisory board, and continues to earn good grades. In the future, Riley hopes to pursue a career as a teacher or a pediatric endocrinologist.