By: Siyona Singhal

Humor Editor 

Advocate and photographer, junior Nova Jayaraj, is flourishing in her third year at LGHS. 

One of Jayaraj’s many passions is climate advocacy, which she became involved with this summer. She explained, “I think climate advocacy is so important because it affects the futures of kids, and so many of the laws are being made by adults, who 20 years from now might not be facing the crisis we are going to be facing. I think bringing kids and a youth perspective to that is really important.” One project Jayaraj has been working on is her talk show titled Not Ones (modeled after the show Hot Ones): “I eat spicy wings with elected officials with the goal of humanizing them and connecting them with their constituents a bit more. Many constituents may be scared by the rhetoric used in town council meetings, so humanizing these members can keep the line of communication open and stronger.” Though the videos have not been released yet, Jayaraj is planning to put them on YouTube. To stay updated on the videos’ release, follow her Instagram account: picsbynova. Jayaraj is also leading a Los Gatos/Saratoga action team under Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action (SVYCA) and is looking for students interested in joining the cause. 

Closely involved with women’s advocacy, Jayaraj will be a panel member at a women’s leadership conference with over 1,000 attendees. Jayaraj commented, “I think for me personally, it’s such an important topic because I do robotics, and we only have around ten girls on the team. I found that during my first year, it was hard for me to assert myself in an environment where I was with people whom I didn’t know how to connect with.” She further expressed that she learned a lot from the process and is hoping to make it easier for other girls in the same situation, especially those wanting to go into STEM, a predominantly male field. 

Through all her advocacy work, the biggest challenge for Jayaraj has been “making time for everything. However, I get a lot of fulfillment from this type of work; I’m not just doing it for college applications, so even though I’m losing time, in my head it doesn’t feel like that.” Her advice to students interested in becoming involved with advocacy is to “foster connections with everyone you meet. I am no exceptional person; one year ago, I was not as involved as I am now, so anyone can get there, you just have to put in the work and make those connections.” 

Outside of her extraordinarily busy schedule, Jayaraj enjoys photography and won an award from the Bay Area Creative Foundation for a picture she took of her chemistry classroom sink: “It’s one of my favorite photos because it was one of the hardest to take and I didn’t have to go to some extravagant place to take it.” Her passion for photography began after taking Digital Photography last year. Jayaraj commented, “Making simpler objects and everyday scenes look really cool using framing and lighting has been a personal endeavor of mine.”

Whether it’s through her women’s advocacy work, climate action, or personal hobbies, Jayaraj’s passion shines through in everything she does.