Most teenagers believe that they can’t make a difference on an impact in society due to their age. And instead of trying to do so, they accept this misconceived fate.

Nivi Biju, sophomore, rises above this accepted “norm”. This past summer when Biju went to India to visit her relatives, he uncle introduced her to a school for the mentally or physically disabled children who are underprivileged.

She said her uncle is very involved with the school, Sahajeevani, and inspired her to go and visit the school.

“When I went to go see it, I really liked there and decided to volunteer there for two weeks,” Biju said.

Biju said she was really impressed with the school because most schools for disabled children in India are very harsh but the teachers at Sahajeevani were very understanding and helped these kids.

When Biju learned that the school had been cut off from government funding, Biju decided to try and raise money for them.

She hosted a dance performance and charged people 10 to 20 dollars per ticket. She managed to raise over ten thousand dollars for the school itself and continues to look for ways to help support it.

So when the topic of the charity the Speech and Debate team would support at their upcoming tournament came up, Biju jumped at the chance to raise more money for Sahajeevani.

“When the team said yes to the idea it was really amazing to see the impact we made on our peers because they were so accepting of it.” Biju said. “They really supported this cause and it meant a lot to me.”

Biju said at the tournament last year they only raise 220 dollars.

“I don’t expect to raise a lot of money but every dollar counts,” Biju said. “Anything amount will help.”

Biju said this cause is very important to her because not only are these children mentally or physically disabled but they also come from underprivileged homes where their families don’t have the resources to help them.

Chesna Panicker, sophomore, helped Biju plan out her dance performance and will be helping her raise money at the Debate tournament this weekend.

Panicker said she really wanted to help Biju in her endeavor when Biju told her what she saw and her experience as a volunteer at Sahajeevani.

“She volunteered there and inspired me to do the same the next time I go to India,” Panicker said.

Panicker said it was an amazing experience to learn more about the school that they were supporting and to know that they directly made an impact on those children.