The award is the highest award a civilian can receive.
SAN ANTONIO — Soon-to-be Reagan High School senior Siddarth Tripathi will be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
It’s the highest award a civilian can receive. The prestigious honor is based on the work he’s put into his nonprofit, Hope for Triumph.
The nonprofit got its start in the living room of the Tripathi home.
17-year-old Siddarth Tripathi and his younger sister Adya’s mission is to empower those affected by terminal illness.
But for them it’s personal.
“When I was nine, my mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer. She was given a life expectancy of three months,” Siddarth, the founder of Hope for Triumph, said.
The family would rally around Siddarth’s mom Charu.
Helping to keep up the house while dad, Vijay, would take mom back-and-forth to MD Anderson in Houston for treatment.
Chemotherapy hitting Charu as it does many cancer patients, causing her to lose her hair.
“[Siddarth] saw me and he was like peeking out of the door. And I saw the fear in his eyes. And I thought like, okay, it’s not me. It’s the entire family who is facing it. The fear, the dilemma,” Siddarth’s mom Charu Pandey said.
The experience changed Siddarth and the entire family.
“Like with any kid [I was] thinking like, my mom is going to die. I was trying to just, like, make the most of it,” Siddarth said.
Once his mom was in remission, Siddarth realized it was his turn to help other families going through the same stresses.
“No one should be facing cancer alone,” Siddarth said.
Starting with messages of hope.
“We started out by going out, giving cards, hoping to get kids care packages, and eventually I realized that I could better help people if I started it as a nonprofit,” Siddarth said.
In 2023, at the age of 14, he established his nonprofit Hope for Triumph.
“We started creating a community of volunteers and we go out and provide services to help families undergoing cancer with their mental health,” Siddarth said. “We help with services such as transportation to hospitals, food, cleaning [and] tutoring for kids.”
In the last two years, the nonprofit giving out thousands of care kits, hundreds of care packages and raising thousands of dollars.
His outreach, even touching his eighth-grade science teacher, Denise King, who fought endometrial cancer.
“It was just really nice to know that there is something other than your immediate family and your immediate circle of friends that can help you through something like this. And for a teenager to step up and do that, that is almost unheard of,” cancer survivor Denise King said.
His parents, proud of the impact Siddarth and his team are making on the community, while also being a straight-A student.
“I’m proud of [him] because he was very compassionate since childhood,” Vijay Tripathi said.
“I would say that he is a leader and he’s creating more leaders in the community, by the way he’s growing the whole Hope for Triumph. Like, you know, leaders can only make leaders. That’s what I believe,” Pandey said.
A young leader, driven by compassion and purpose.
My goal eventually, with Hope for Triumph, is to support cancer research and to create a world where cancer is no longer an issue that people have to deal with,” Siddarth said.
Join the Hope for Triumph mission in at their event, Walk Your Worries Away, happening October 25, 2025. Visit Hope for Triumph for more information on the walk and the nonprofit.