Name, city of residence:
Amitabh “Ami” Bharghavan, Aptos
Grade you started at MMS:
Fifth grade
What inspires you?
People: the ability that people have in general to create things, destroy things, and the influence and power that we all individually wield. Every person has the capacity to do something and change things and when they get together to do something, it’s very inspiring to me.
What is your favorite subject in school, and why?
At this moment, world religions, mainly because it’s a chance for people to be exposed to things outside of the norm. Religions in general are a way for people to come together and be human. It also helps people to overcome their fears of other religions by learning about them.
If you had the power to change one thing in the world, what would it be?
Inequality, specifically monetary inequality. I believe all inequality stems from a lack of access to resources and monetary inequality.
If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
The moon, specifically a place where I could look out and see the Earth. When you see Earth from space, you realize there aren’t borders, just Earth with all of us together. I would want to see Earth from this very different view.
Name one big challenge in your life right now:
Uncertainty about the future. I applied and got into a school in Scotland and for me uncertainty about how COVID will spread and what my life might look like going to college is a big challenge.
What is your dream job and why?
I don’t know if I have a specific dream job per say. In my life I have many different goals, and no one dream job because there are many different ways to get to that goal. What is that goal? My goal is to help people in any way I can.
What are some of your favorite things?
Dungeons & Dragons and science fiction
Favorite book:
My favorite genre of books is fantasy, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is my favorite series, but also I like books about the Forgotten Realms and other books about Dungeons & Dragons. It’s nice to escape into a world that is not really bad; it puts me into a world where people do good things and good things come out of it.
What do you want to do after high school?
To go off to college. I don’t really have a plan after high school, I’m just going to take things as they come. I don’t really plan ahead otherwise if it doesn’t work out I get sad.
Something that you are proud of – and why:
I am proud of humanity because despite all of the horrible things we have done we can still wake up the next day and move on with our lives. Think of all the temples that you can see, all the cultures that are out there. Humanity hasn’t been around that long, it just makes me proud that we have such an influence on our world. That being said, I’m not proud of the bad things we have done, but it’s baffling the influence we have on our world. It makes me proud to be human.
Something that makes you smile:
A lot of things make me smile: good food, music, culture, games, art and good stories.
A favorite MMS memory – and why?
One I am always going to remember is when we were on a camping trip and we were playing tag. We were all wearing our packs, and as the person who was the tagger was coming closer to me, I backed up and fell into a fire pit. The fire was out but I just remember being surrounded by a plume of ash. And it may not be my favorite memory, but it was exceedingly fun.
Top three most played songs on your favorite playlist:
“The Outlandish Knight” by Kate Rusby; “The Last Goodbye” by Billy Boyd; and “Beauty of Dawn” by Malukah.
During quarantine what have you done to keep yourself busy or just for fun?
I have been playing the mandolin; doing archery; I introduced my family to D&D and started playing D&D with my friends. I’m also painting miniatures for D&D; woodworking; and playing the hurdy-gurdy, a Renaissance instrument.
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Alumnus Noah Tervalon (’20) interviewed Ami for this spotlight feature.
“I am a computer science major in the Tufts School of Engineering, with a minor in dance,” shares Noah. “Being able to expand my horizons has been one of the best things for me, and moving across the country has allowed me to gain so much perspective. I am a teacher’s assistant for a class on campus, as well as working on founding a club, which will officially begin in fall 2021. Mostly my life has been working to find out where I fit in at college and what that looks like during COVID, while trying to make the best of the situation.”