AYUSHI SRIVASTAVA, 16

Ayushi Srivastava immigrated to the United States from India, and currently lives in Union City, California. She lives a life on the fine line between being Indian and American. As she grew older, Srivastava developed an affinity for Speech and Debate. She nurtured her love for speaking which as she moved across the country for her high school career. When she left her childhood home for the busy San Francisco Bay area, Srivastava learned numerous lessons and morals from the thousands of different people that crossed her path.

Srivastava is incredibly passionate about the impact of mental health on our society at this point in time. She says that mental health disorders are regarded as a bourgeois problem, for lack of better words, and considered a result of thinking too hard about oneself. She believes this stereotype is completely wrong. In order to stimulate solutions to fix it, Srivastava encourages everyone to learn to acknowledge that these problems really exist and are faced by people all around us. She has given speeches on the topic of awareness as well as crafted an invention that proposes an alternate medicine delivery system for patients with major depression and other mental health disorders. This project won the regional fair that she attended, and will be taken to the state championship.

Srivastava wishes to bring about curiosity in the world around her. She believes that our society is being deprived of action as the youth of today isn’t given the opportunity to invest time and opinion in current events. She feels that this phenomenon can only be overcome once members of the youth begin to speak up. In order for youth to bring the future closer to the present, they must break barriers and pursue new ideas.

Srivastava plans to attend college with a focus in science and medicine and intends to revolutionize the medical world.

Where Has Our Curiosity Run Off To?

by Ayushi Srivastava

As children, we heard adults constantly speaking about the big world around us. We learn lessons about being kind, perseverance, determination, and most of all: the importance of asking questions about topics we don’t understand. So why is it that now, as adults ourselves, we have lost the ability to learn about new things?

We have fallen into a trap that prevents us from coining out of the mindsets we have, the opinions we create, and the questions we pursue. By not understanding the relevance of curiosity throughout our lives, we are putting our society in a detrimental position. If adults cannot celebrate the importance of questions, how can we teach that to our youth?

WE NEED TO STAND UP FOR THE THINGS WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND!

It is human nature to dislike what we do not realize but it is our duty as rising youth of today to bring curiosity back. We can’t let closed mindsets shun us from learning about the world. Let’s create dialogue to understand the unknown such as questions we may have about politics, science, humanities. Speak up and don’t let yourself ever believe that questions are wrong because these questions are what open our eyes to see the fine details in a beautiful world.