American Girl’s 1st South Asian American Doll Created By Hillsborough Student

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Arusha Bhargava, an eighth grader at Hillsborough Middle School, was honored by the Township Committee for her pivotal role in the development of the 2023 Girl of the Year Doll, Kavika "Kavi" Sharma.

"This has been a great honor doing this project. It was a great opportunity," said Bhargava at the Oct. 24 Committee meeting.

"Kavi is a groundbreaking creation, marking American Girl’s first South Asian American Doll," according to the proclamation read by Mayor Shawn Lipani. " Arusha dedicated her time to shaping Kavi’s cultural background and identity and providing commentary and edits to the two associated books."

Bhargava was also featured in a 4-page interview at the end of the book "It's Showtime Kavi."

"Working on this project, taught me a lot about the writing process and comparing the editing process to the final result," said Bhargava.

She also said she learned the importance of books and how they can be "windows into other people's lives. This book proves it for me. It represents me in the book."

Bhargava thanked her parents for raising her to embrace her culture.

She also thanked her dance teacher Rina Shah of AUM Dance Creations for cultivating her love of Indian dancing and of whose competitive dance team Arusha has been a part of for the past 7 years. This passion and experience helped shape Kavi’s character who also loves to dance.

After the launch of the doll, Bhargava attended the American Girl launch of Kavi, shared her insights on NBC Nightly News: Kids Edition with Lester Holt and met with the President of American Girl.

In her free time, she participates in robotics, wind ensemble, band, Science Olympiad, student council, debate club and spelling bee at the Hillsborough Middle School.

Bhargava volunteers as a Hindi school teacher assistant and is a student volunteer at Sanatan
Vidyalay Culture School.

"Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the Mayor and the Hillsborough Township Committee, hereby congratulate Arusha Bhargava for her accomplishments, and we wish her luck in all her future endeavors," said Lipani.

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