Moving across the stage, Esha Deokar (12) projects her voice through the auditorium, her face glowing under the stage lights. Every expression and line flows freely as she embodies Si Crowell, her character in the fall play. Walking confidently across the wooden floors, she looks towards the audience with true emotion.

It’s hard to believe that someone seemingly so extroverted and outgoing began freshman year afraid to speak her mind, yet that personality developed over the many experiences of high school.

“I think my journey from a shyer person to a more outward person has made me feel comfortable sharing my opinions and made me feel comfortable having those opinions in the first place,” she said.

Esha made the choice to integrate herself into a program centered around performing arts to push and encourage herself to become more involved.

“I just joined the Conservatory program kind of on a whim. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but it is something I’ve grown to love,” she said. “I find that theater is a good way of expressing you but through other people.”

Her close friend describes the development that Esha has made in her high school years.

“We were kind of timid, both of us were, and I saw that in herself as well as in myself and I think that’s why clicked so well at first,” said Meghna Phalke (12). “She has definitely come out of her shell in the past four years. I’ve watched her blossom into this amazing, strong, outgoing person.”

Her focus on performing arts was just the beginning, but the catalyst that changed her perspective completely was the February 14th shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Organizing in honor of the victims of the shooting, Esha began trying to convey a simple message: “It’s not just another shooting.”

“Prior to the vigil, I saw a lot of apathy from people…I was nervous to see people’s reactions. It completely went the opposite of apathy and that is something that really touched me,” Esha said. “I realized that drawing people in to care about politics, to care about gun control, to care about things that are happening in the world was something I want to pursue for my life.”

Her prior history teacher, Julie Wheeler, emphasized Esha’s strong personality.

“[Seeing her grow], I think what was really great was how impassioned she was…how she was so actively involved in bringing that event to the school,” Wheeler said. “That was sort of a culmination of who and what she was and everything she believed in.”

As her mother studied law, Esha’s immersion in the idea of law became strongly important to her because she looked to her mother as a role model. Organizing that vigil allowed her to see the impact she could and did make on her community. Her ambitions only began to grow from there as she delved deeper into the concept of law and even specific topics that law encompassed.

Every year Esha visits her relatives in India. Her aunt and uncle, as doctors, aided victims of sexual, psychological, and domestic abuse. This led her to have an interest in human trafficking at a young age.

“I actually went with my uncle to his clinic when I was eleven years old and he was delivering a baby from a woman who had been raped,” she said. “Just seeing people who [could] do something like that in that kind of profession, in that stressful environment, was really inspiring.”

In the future, Esha plans to study law and wants to focus specifically on global human trafficking, as she experienced the first-hand the tragedies it brought.

Despite starting high school unable speak her thoughts, Esha has pushed herself to become opinionated and free to express herself. Moving past her previous limits allowed her to find herself in the pursuit of aiding others.

“I want to end up reaching a wide range of people rather than have some sort of abstract concept define who I am. I want to mean different things to different people, whether that is just love for my family or community service for the people I help. Even if it’s not necessarily something I’m good at or something I have one foot in, I want to be able to reach people,” Esha said.