2026 Alumni Awards

The We the People Alumni Awards were presented at the conclusion of the National Finals weekend in Washington, D.C. in April, 2026. Two honorees were selected from nominated alums. The categories are as follows:

To recognize an alum who has distinguished themselves through service to their community, country, or society at large. For alums 18–34 years of age at the time of nomination.

• We the People Class of 2024
• Faith Lutheran Middle and High School

Akash Abraham is a sophomore at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia double-majoring in American Politics and Economics. Originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, Akash participated in Faith Lutheran Middle School & High School's We The People programs, where his coach, Mrs. Tish Carroll inspired him to work with younger We The People students and expand his passion for civics.

As a college student, Akash has expanded his passion for politics and civics by participating in campus political journalism, doing 2 foreign policy research internships, and leading the Washington and Lee University Mock Convention's political research organization. He gives special thanks to his parents, Priya and Ravi, whose hard work and sacrifices as immigrants from India inspire him to use his passion for law and politics in order to make their American Dream a reality for everyone.

Created to honor an alumnus/a who has provided extraordinary service to the world and who represents the ideals of virtuous service to benefit the common good. For alums over 35 years of age.

• We the People Class of 1989
• Lincoln Southeast High School

Derek Chollet is Managing Director and Head of the JPMorganChase Center for Geopolitics, where he leads a firmwide advisory team helping clients anticipate and respond to a range of issues around the globe. Over the course of nearly three decades, he has become one of Washington’s leading foreign policy practitioners and thinkers, having served in key positions in the Pentagon, US State Department, White House, Congress, and several leading research institutions.

He served most recently as the chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and previously as the counselor of the US Department of State. In these roles he was a top leader at the Pentagon and State Department and a key adviser to both the secretaries of state and defense, playing a central part in shaping US policy toward the Middle East and Ukraine, and trouble-shooting crises from Burma to the Balkans.

Outside of government, Chollet has been a prominent foreign affairs analyst. He is currently a Carnegie Distinguished Fellow at Columbia University’s Institute of Global Politics and has previously served as executive vice president and senior advisor for security and defense policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), and as a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House. He has also been a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Brookings Institution, the Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins/SAIS, and the American Academy in Berlin.

Chollet is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of eight books on US foreign policy, the most recent being The Middle Way: How Three Presidents Shaped America’s Role in the World (Oxford University Press). Educated at Cornell, he did graduate work at Columbia and was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska.