Inspired by her own personal struggle with mental health issues, Diana Ho’s focus is on implementing more mental health services in the school system. As a member of Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE), she spoke before 1,400 people in 2018 in support of VOICE’s budget proposal to Governor Northam for funding mental health services in the schools. She and other students founded the VOICE Teen Team and lobbied the Virginia General Assembly in 2019 about their proposals. Based on her own experiences, Diana offers advice to those new to mental health self-care and self-awareness through her Take Care website.

Diana has also been a leader of the Open Peacebuilding and Leadership Conference, whose purpose is to educate students in underserved communities in peacebuilding. She helped plan a conference for 65 students. This organization has now been renamed as LeadPeace and @leadpeaceorg on Instagram. Diana led a group on social media outreach and was appointed Director of Branding, with the responsibility of producing aesthetic graphic designs including logos, color palettes, brochures, and slideshow presentations.

Diana believes peace is a requirement when considering any form of social activism or interaction. She says that peace may not be the end goal for her work, but it is a means to achieve the desired results for everybody. For example, to address the issue of mental health in schools, she sought to build peace through community engagement and speaking directly to elected officials.

Diana feels that educating other students about peacebuilding, a relatively new concept, is one method to encourage peacebuilding as the first option when addressing issues and conflict.

School Counselor Lauren Griffin says, “Diana turns her passion for the issues she cares about -- mental health, equality, and peace -- into action. She does the work it takes to make a change in her community and in the world. I am constantly impressed by her passion and work ethic.”