Aabha Vadapalli: “Blood cancer wasn’t a disease represented by a club at school, but it’s affected so many patients and changed so many people’s lives. Last year, I met patients for all kinds of diseases, and did a ton of research on leukemia and lymphoma before we got started. Their stories really inspired me and my friends to start DVHS Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

“I didn’t know anyone personally who had had the disease, but I’d seen how it affected people. As co-president and cofounder of the club, I’m a point of contact for the larger third-party organization, as well as the school office. I handle internal club communication, like emails, and school forms, as well as reaching out to representatives of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 

“We’re part of the Light the Night campaign. It’s a campaign with many chapters that work with LLS to fundraise and raise awareness. My co-president and I collaborate with the Light the Night coordinators at LLS to meet up and discuss fundraising and advertising. They really help with raising awareness events, which we do a lot of, such as fundraisers with Happy Lemon and Panera Bread.

“We had our Cranes for a Cause awareness-raising event in the Quad, where people could fold paper cranes for blood cancer patients, and our Christmas cards event in Mrs. Warrier’s room, which were sent to San Ramon Regional Medical Center. We collaborate with a lot of clubs, like Interact, CSF and the American Cancer Society, and do a lot of social media marketing and put up flyers around the school.

“It’s important to create a community in DV for this disease. Every dollar anybody raises helps cancer patients; we’re teaching young people so that they can carry on the work in their own lives. LLS says a lot, ‘Until there is a cure.’ Who knows, maybe one of our members will cure blood cancer one day? That would be really cool.”

Maya Nair: “I’m a certified yoga teacher. My certification is for teaching youth, so for [age] 18 and below, and I will probably take the next level so I can teach people older than the age of 18.

This is Hatha yoga, which is the style of yoga from India. I was actually not really aware of Yin yoga from China until taking Yoga in school. But it is definitely interesting to learn more about yoga than what I’ve already known.

The summer after seventh grade, my mom signed me up for this yoga course, saying, ‘You know, this might be interesting, and would benefit you.’ Eighth grade Thanksgiving break, it was like every day for five hours, it was a lot. But we learned so much, and I made a bunch of new friends through that.

We had to choose a topic. ‘Yoga with teenagers dealing with stress’ is definitely something that I could relate to, and if I could relate to it, I’d be more passionate about talking about it. Being part of the group that’s affected by stress and helping with yoga, I could connect with other people more easily who were interested in the same subject. And because I’m always around people my age dealing with the same stuff, I can easily spread the word about yoga. These simple benefits that are so helpful and don’t take much time are so convenient.” 

Akshita Chikoti: “I have been dancing since I was about 6, so since about 2014. My parents joined this non profit organization, BATA, which stands for Bay Area Telugu Organization, way before I was born. They encouraged me to use the big platform over there and dance on the stage like they did. So I decided to follow their footsteps and dance like they did.

I enjoy dancing because it’s a form of art where I get to display my feelings in a movement where words can’t. I love the variety of moves and gestures you can create. There is no limit to it. For me, dancing is a way I can showcase my confidence.

I have evolved from just a young dancer to a choreographer. I enjoyed doing it so much that I took leadership and conducted classes. People loved my dances because they stood out, which gives me so much joy and honor.

I dance for any major South Indian festivals, which occur usually every few months.

At first dancing seemed just like a side thing, nothing I was really passionate about. Later after engaging in more, meeting different dance groups, my love for dancing slowly crept up on me without me realizing.”

Ronit Sengupta: “I’ve been in choir for around 4 years. And the choir community is just a really nice place like, no one’s left out of anything. It’s like a little family, and I enjoy it a lot. But in middle school, I was one of the only guys in the choir. So there was a very large gap between the amount of us in one section and the amount of girls in the other section. So we had to sing very loud in order to compete with their dynamics. It caused me to learn how to change my vocal tone very well. I used to just sing at one straight volume, but now I’ve got the whole range, and I’m a stronger singer because of it.”