From the exterior, Aria Coalson (12) appears to be an introvert. She is quiet and values spending time alone, yet she is still keenly observant of her surroundings, always taking note of those who are often overlooked.

As a child, Aria always loved animals, but her passive interest turned into passionate activism after witnessing the beheading of a chicken in India.

“After that, I turned hard core vegetarian,” she said. “It showed me the direct impact I’m having. When you just get a plate of chicken or something, you don’t really see where it comes from, but when you actually see the animal getting killed, you can’t really ignore that.”

She hopes to someday have her own animal sanctuary, where she can directly make an impact on the lives of individual animals.

“There are so many other animals than dogs that are often overlooked,” she said. “I want to have a sanctuary where I can rescue any broken or unwanted animals that haven’t led a good life up until then, so with whatever time they have left they’ll be able to enjoy it to the fullest.”

Aria is also a certified yoga teacher, and she particularly likes teaching children, because when she was younger, she discovered the benefits of meditation. She found that it helped to relax and improve her time management skills.

“Teaching yoga was the first time I actually had to get out of my shell. I’m not a very extroverted person, so I had trouble dealing with large crowds of people, especially when all the eyes were on me,” she said. “I didn’t want any attention on me, but when I was teaching yoga, just having a class full of kids that were engaging with me and actually enjoying what I do made me feel a lot more confident in myself.”

Aliesa Bahri (12), one of Aria’s closest friends, particularly admires her for her honesty.

“She values your feelings, but she also wants the best for you, so she’d do anything in her power to give you an objective opinion,” Aliesa said.

Aria serves as a mentor in her job as Executive President of the the Robotics Club. In particular, she tries to encourage girls to stay on the team, in spite of the current gender imbalance in membership.

“The biggest thing is that it wasn’t that girls weren’t enjoying robotics, it was just an uncomfortable situation to be in,” she said. “I did what I thought would be best which was to just make friends with them and make them feel like they fit in and they had a place, so I think that’s helped.”

Another one of her close friends, Jessica Susai (12) appreciates Aria’s sense of humor and her ability to put people at ease.

“She can make the best out of any situation,” she said. “When things are hard or serious, sometimes she’s really serious too, but a lot of the times she can be relieving.”