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Elena Klopfenstein isn’t just a senior at Coconino High School. She is an innovator, a mentor and an advocate, and it shows in her achievements and persistence in uplifting her Native community.

Klopfenstein is from Cameron, and her reservation sits right next to the Grand Canyon.

Growing up surrounded by nature encouraged her love for being outdoors, and she said she enjoys spending her time either hiking or rock climbing.

She wears her culture with pride -- born from a Honeycomb and Salt People clan -- and has spent a lot of time with her father immersing herself in her Navajo heritage.

Klopfenstein said her family has always reminded her of the importance of keeping their native language and traditions alive. She has gone all around the Navajo Nation performing ceremonies with her father, who serves as a medicine man, learning all about their traditional herbs and practices.

Hearing the stories of her community was a jumping-off point for her pillar of wanting to help others.

When Klopfenstein first arrived in Flagstaff, she admitted there was a moment of doubt in herself through which she couldn’t see how she would be successful at CHS. She said she didn’t have a role model at her previous school to show her what possibilities there were for her future, so coming to Flagstaff was a whole new world for her.

She originally joined the school’s robotics club because of a friend, but she was not expecting the impact it would have on her now.

“I was just blown away,� Klopfenstein said. “It’s more than just the robots. It’s more about encouraging STEM opportunities and encouragement throughout your entire community, and I really wanted to be a part of giving that encouragement that I never had.�

Before the birth of RezBotics, Klopfenstein was helping hundreds of kids build their own robots, making sure there was funding through grants for teams and serving as a mentor.

She had been lucky enough to find role models at CHS, but who was doing that for the kids on the reservation?

Flagstaff is America’s first STEM city; however, Klopfenstein argues that a lot of the opportunities are not distributed equally.

So she wanted to be part of the solution. Klopfenstein got in contact with her tribal delegate to assist her in partnering with Navajo Traditional Energy Company (NTEC) to spearhead RezBotics, which brings robotics to the Navajo Nation.

There had been previous efforts to start a robotics team on the reservation, but they didn't last. Kloperstein said her knowledge of the customs of her people and knowing her language made it easier for them to trust her, and she was able to become the role model and face of the program.

There are hundreds of kids, Klopfenstein included, who make the three-hour drive to and from school to receive their education. With this in mind, Klopfenstein wanted to bring something to the reservation that was sustainable and accessible.

“It makes it very hard, especially in robotics,� Klopfenstein said. “You have to go to a hardware store, you have to get materials, you have to have the funds. That’s why RezBotics was so important, because it’s the Navajo Nation’s own thing that accommodates our circumstances.�

Delegates have been impressed by the opportunities of success that RezBotics presents in supporting the future of STEM and Indigenous youth, and the program has gained an immense amount of support.

She has helped form more than 20 teams across the Navajo Nation and organized the first all-Indigenous FIRST Robotics tournament, bringing together 150 students. One of her teams made it all the way to the world championship, with her own team, CocoNuts, winning the Impact Award at the FIRST World Championship.

One of the most powerful moments for Klopfenstein was being able to advocate to the FIRST Robotics Competition about recognizing the Navajo Nation as a region at their competitions, and the precedent it would set for Indigenous students everywhere. She was proud to be able to get Indigenous representation at the FIRST World Championship and see her teammates take home trophies and medals.

Because the Navajo Nation is now its own region in the robotics world, RezBotics was able to host its first competition at Diné College -- one of the first colleges in the Navajo Nation. This was a full-circle moment for Klopfenstein.

Part of Klopfenstein’s work as an advocate is to bridge the gap between people on the reservation and STEM opportunities.

“I realize more than ever that STEM education is crucial,� Klopfenstein said. “And it’s more than just presenting them with the idea of STEM, but it should be presented by other role models who look just like them. And that’s a way of people knowing that option is out there for them.�

This young scholar has taken her advocacy to new distances, traveling all the way to the Pentagon last summer to attend the National Advocacy Conference to talk about STEM policy. She spoke to people from the Washington, D.C., office and has hosted her own advocacy conferences in Arizona to contribute to getting the CHIPS Act passed and advocated for the funding of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

More local to her, Klopfenstein works as a cultural specialist at Grand Canyon Trust. She takes people on trips through the canyon, where she gets to teach other Indigenous youth the importance of knowing and feeling connected to their land, language and traditions.

Working as a trip coordinator gave her the chance to learn more about her tribe’s history and also others� as well.

Klopfenstein was awarded the 2025 Cameron Impact Scholar for her work as a young, inspirational scholar with a dedication to uplifting her community, and come fall she will be attending Stanford University, where she will study to become a chemical engineer.

Her goals for RezBotics are to create more teams and gain more of the tribal government’s support and, hopefully, get more nations across the country involved.

She said she plans to continue her efforts as an environmental and social activist and already had another advocacy conference at the end of April.