Rithvik Agastya, 13
Schools: 8th-grader at Lawson Middle School and Young Genius, Bay Area Speech and Debate Academy in Saratoga.
Accomplishments:
• Finalist at Harker State Debate Tournament for Public Forum on December 7th, 2014
• A member of Young Genius, Bay Area Debate Academy Varsity Debate team
• National Junior Honor Society student
• A Ro Khanna Fellow for the ‘Ro Khanna for Congress’ 2014 campaign
• A starting forward with the Lawson Middle School soccer team
• A Black Belt student in Tae Kwon Do
• Completed a course in Film Making and Editing by Digital Media Academy at Stanford
• A student of the Tabla for 6 yrs with about 10 group performances under his belt.
• An actor with Naatak (America’s biggest Indian theater company) in 2 professional theater productions (Final Solutions, Mowgli and I)
• Part of the Entrepreneur Club at Lawson Middle School
Key to Awesomeness:
Rithvik is an honors student (National Junior Honor Society) at Lawson Middle School.
Aside from being a strong student academically, Rithvik has always displayed a strong interest in the performing arts. He loves theater, and aside from participation in his school plays, he has been part of 2 professional theater productions with Naatak, America’s largest Indian theater company. His most recent play was Mowgli and I, a reimagination of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book, where he landed a role as one of the monkeys that kidnap Mowgli. He received a lot of kudos for that role, as well as for his audition piece, where he played the role of a distraught child caught in the middle of his parents’ divorce.
Rithvik is also a student of the Tabla (an Indian percussion instrument) for the last 6 years with over 10 group performances under his belt. He also plays the alto saxophone and has been part of his elementary and middle school bands.
He was introduced to film making and editing through a school project and continued his training in this area with a 2 week course from DMA at Stanford University. He continues to dabble in this art form through the Visual Arts and Film making club at Lawson, where he helps create the school year video and book.
Like most middle schoolers, Rithvik also has a keen interest in sports. He was a member of the U-8, U-10 and U-12 teams for the De Anza Force, which plays in the DYSL, a competitive soccer league in the Bay Area. He also plays soccer for Lawson Middle School, is a sprinter with a mile time of 5’ 59” and is scheduled to test for his Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do in February 2015.
Rithvik was an intern (Ro Khanna fellow) with the Ro Khanna for Congress 2014 campaign. As one of the youngest volunteers in the campaign, Rithvik was passionate about educating voters about Ro Khanna and the issues he stands for, via precinct walking and phone banking.
And last but not the least, Rithvik has been involved in public speaking with Young Genius where he has debated in Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum debates at the Varsity level since 7th grade. Rithvik and his partner Anish Sundar recently won 5th place in the Harker Invitational Speech and Debate tournament in December 2014.
Rithvik is thankful to his teachers and coaches for helping him achieve whatever he has so far but he also feels he still has a lot to learn and a lot more to offer.
