Mr. Akash Patel is the Founder of Happy World Foundation Inc., an international nonprofit organization that promotes global citizenship education in schools and communities worldwide. In 2018, Patel, a Spanish and Mathematics teacher with Dallas ISD, was selected as a Top 50 finalist from over 30,000 teachers for the Global Teacher Prize, a $1 million award that is granted annually to one teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession. In 2020, Patel was elected to the National Council of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) to serve the 2020-2024 term. He was also appointed as the chair of the Global Engagement Summit, the largest gathering of American grassroots changemakers and global activists in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations and the chair of the UNA-USA Educators Affinity group that helps educators from across the United States champion the Sustainable Development Goals in their classrooms. In 2021, Patel was inducted in the International Literacy Association’s 30 Literacy Leaders Under 30 list, and elected as the first polyglot immigrant President of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). In 2022, Patel was featured as TIME’s Innovative Educator of the Year and elected Vice-Chairman of the National Council at UNA-USA. Patel is a recipient of several national and international honors for his work with anti-bias global education. He speaks six languages and has traveled to over 50 countries.