Urooj Khattak is devoted to peacebuilding and her school community through active participation in clubs and organizations addressing a panoply of issues. Over the course of her high school career, her work has spanned from the support and mentoring of other students to environmentalism, health care education, and human rights and social justice advocacy. Urooj was born in Pakistan and came to the United States when she was 8 years old. She started school not speaking English and reports being lonely in elementary school. This experience motivated Urooj in high school to become a South Lakes Ambassador to support other students new to American schools. Ambassadors help students with classes, clubs, and basic skills, such as getting on the right bus. Urooj explains that she speaks Hindi, Punjabi, Pashto, as well as Spanish and has familiarity with Arabic. As a multilingual student, she is often asked to support students from all over South Asia and the Middle East.

As a sophomore, she joined the environmental club. She was active in clean-up days, recycling projects and education programs. She coordinated a campus trash pick-up day with the high school football team.

In addition to her courses at South Lakes High School, Urooj attends Fairfax County Academy at Chantilly and is working to become a Certified Medical Assistant (CMA).  She is co-chair of the pre-med club, which schedules motivational speakers who work in the field of medicine. She is also the historian for the local chapter of HOSA- Future Health Professionals. HOSA is a global student-led organization whose mission is to promote career opportunities in the health industry and to enhance the delivery of health care to all people. At South Lakes, Urooj has brought attention to uncommon diseases by organizing monthly awareness campaigns.

Last summer, Urooj volunteered with Girls Learn International, an organization that empowers and educates young women to advocate for human rights, equality, and universal education.  She worked on a team that authored emails and letters to members of Congress advocating for gun regulation and equity in education.