Sixteen-year-old Genshu Price of Hauula was named a 2024 Prudential Emerging Visionary for his nonprofit project “Bottles­4College,” which collects recyclable cans and bottles to generate college scholarships for Hawaii youth.

As one of 25 winners, Price receives a $5,000 award and an all-expenses-­paid trip for a three-day summit to Prudential’s Newark, N.J., headquarters this month. The sophomore at Myron B. Thompson Academy will receive coaching, skills development and networking opportunities with Prudential employees and other young leaders, an announcement said.

Bottles4College became a nonprofit in 2021, but Price said he started the program when he was 10 years old in 2018.

“I started this originally to try and find a way to help give back to the environment and create a college fund for me to be able to further my learning after high school,” Price said in an email. “Like many families here in Hawaii, we are facing high living costs and college is near impossible to get to without student debt, something I wanted to avoid. But after a month of putting forth this effort, I saw how much more this could do, not for me but for the community.

“I then shifted the goal into what Bottles4­College is now, an envi­ronmental effort to raise awareness to recycling and our environment while also paving the way for other students to reach higher educa­tion through college scholarships.”

Price said Bottles4­College has given out five scholarships to high school students worth over $20,000; recycled over 1.5 million cans and bottles; diverted over 100,000 pounds of trash from a landfill; and formed over 30 partnerships in sustainability through recycling.

The nonprofit is still taking applications for scholarships until April 30. Visit bottles4 college.weebly.com.