Amiya Chokhawala (12) keeps her eyes open. Curious about the world, attentive to the planet and sensitive about others’ feelings, she identifies as honest, creative and empathetic. If she sees a person that looks sad or disappointed or just not feeling well, Amiya makes an effort to ask them about it and always gives them some sort of advice. She wants to be remembered for being an approachable person that anyone can talk to. 

Even over Zoom, upper school computer science teacher Susan King watched Amiya’s care and curiosity blossom. For King, Amiya helped enliven the online class with her questions. King noticed her kindness, generosity and ability to give back to others. 

“Amiya is shy, and yet she was the one asking questions,” King said. “That takes a lot of willingness — to overcome something that sometimes feels like you’re born with [it]. To overcome that, driven by curiosity, is such an admirable trait. I just want to celebrate her for that. She knows that when she asks questions, other people benefited from her. And that’s absolutely a gift to give to her classmates. ”

Though she now participates in her classes with thoughtful inquiry and without fear, Amiya remembered sitting in a classroom during her first robotics lesson in seventh grade and feeling lonely, surrounded by boys. After that experience, she felt inspired to find a way to bring robotics to the girls around her, through founding a nonprofit organization for teaching girls about STEM called STEMher. She chose to center her work in STEM because of her past experiences feeling isolated in classes that were primarily dominated by boys. In freshman year, Amiya began to give back to others on a large scale through her organization, heading workshops for girls. 

“I never did robotics again, which is something I regret,” Amiya said. “My goal is to prevent girls from feeling like that isolation and help them continue to pursue those fields.”

Through tutoring girls in math and science, she hopes to bridge the gender gap in fields like math and software engineering. As she has grown her organization, partnering with national and international organizations and adding new members to her team, Amiya has developed her leadership skills. She embraces honesty with those around her. 

 “When I was younger, I was an indirect leader,” Amiya said. “I was always too afraid to come off as bossy or mean because of telling people what to do. I’ve gained that confidence to know that it’s okay to be bossy sometimes. It’s okay to tell people what to do, as long as you’re listening.”

She remembers one girl, Vaidehi, from Nigeria, who attended Amiya’s Web Design workshop and became enthusiastic about programming for the first time. Vaidehi still stays in touch with Amiya, emailing her about her new creations. 

“The thing that keeps me inspired is the gratification I get when I see a girl who’s never learned programming before become so excited about it and continue it,” Amiya said. “The fact that I can inspire someone to that level keeps me going.”

As a lifer who joined Harker in kindergarten, Amiya feels that Harker’s “ambitious and passionate” environment has driven her to discover what she loves to do. Being in this deeply energetic space from a young age made her want to give back to the community around her. 

“She really cares about everything,” younger sister Risa Chokhawala (‘27) said. “She really cares about animals. She’s always there for others, including my parents. She has become much more mature over the years — I would say she has become more independent to try to care about herself more. But she still maintains the qualities of being very helpful, and she’s always there for other people.” 

Upper school math teacher Bradley Stoll and fellow vegan appreciates Amiya’s ability to think about the world around her with compassion, doing her part to care for the natural environment. Amiya’s ability to be conscientious about the world and the choices she makes stand out to him, especially considering her young age. 

“I’m guessing she must have been 15 the time that she made that decision to be vegan,” Stoll said. “The compassion that she must have to think of the treatment of animals struck me most. She must also have a very caring family to help her because I know it’s hard being the only vegan in a family. She’s also super caring about others.”

In her daily life, Amiya brings care to the activities she enjoys. Whether she’s painting or playing the oboe in the Harker orchestra, Amiya embraces creativity, pursuing the connections between different artistic crafts. From a young age, she loved making bracelets and drawing. As she has grown, these hobbies transitioned into doing nail art and baking vegan foods. 

“I like to change foods that people normally eat into vegan foods in creative ways,” Amiya said. “So one thing I’ve done is make bacon out of watermelon or make taco meat out of hibiscus flowers. I feel like I try to bring creativity into everything I do.”

As Amiya goes into college and beyond, King would advise Amiya to stay true to her heart. She hopes Amiya will continue to embrace her curiosity for what the environment around her has to offer — and what she can contribute as a leader.  

“Embrace your curiosity,” King said. “Embrace your willingness to define yourself, the way you define yourself to the world, the way you want the world to see you. Trust that who you are as a person is more than enough for the world to see you don’t have to project something that isn’t. Amiya doesn’t need to project anything other than herself and be a gift to the world.”