On a campus known for shaping students through service and leadership, one junior has turned personal pain into public purpose.
Preston Feden, 17, a Warwick native and member of La Salle Academy’s class of 2027, recently earned recognition as the Southern New England Leader of Impact from the American Heart Association. The honor is part of the Association’s national Leaders of Impact campaign, a yearlong initiative that spotlights changemakers who raise funds and awareness to fight heart disease and stroke.
For Feden, the mission is personal. He dedicated his campaign to his grandfather, James Samsel, who lives with the lasting effects of heart disease. That experience sharpened his focus. He spoke openly about prevention, early detection and the importance of funding research. He urged his peers to see heart health as a shared community priority.
Feden’s work reflects a simple idea: service requires action.
He built an online fundraising campaign, rallied classmates and community members and raised $8,000 from 52 donors. He also sparked conversations about cardiovascular health, the leading cause of death in the United States. He did not treat the campaign as a résumé builder. He treated it as a responsibility to his family and his community.
The American Heart Association designed the Leaders of Impact program to channel that kind of civic commitment. Each year, the national initiative identifies community leaders and challenges them to compete in a defined fundraising period while educating the public about heart disease and stroke. Participants measure success not only by dollars raised, but by the awareness they generate and the people they engage. The campaign advances the Association’s mission to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
At La Salle, Feden serves as a student ambassador and competes in tennis and track and field. Those commitments demonstrate discipline and involvement. His Leader of Impact recognition underscores something larger: young people can drive measurable change when they pair service with leadership.
In Southern New England, a high school junior proved that impact does not depend on age or title. It depends on the decision to step forward, organize others and serve.
Congratulations to Preston on being named the 2025 Leader of Impact for Southern New England. For more information email Lindsay.Iadeluca@heart.org.