Charvi Gangwani ’24 is among the 34 young people representing 23 countries on five continents announced as the 2022 Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leaders (GTLs) by the We Are Family Foundation (WAFF).
The WAFF selected the GTLs based on their social good innovations, organizations, projects, and promise for a more just, equitable, and peaceful future.
In response to what she felt was a huge gap in mental heath resources available to students in her home country of India, Gangwani founded The Amygdala, an organization raising awareness about mental health issues, advocating for access to mental services in schools, and helping adolescents achieve psychological resilience through education and resources.
The Amygdala has become an international movement comprised of psychological education and mental health workshops and webinars, a speaker series that connects mental health professionals to students, and a series that highlights the stories of young mental health advocates. To date, they have led 74 sessions impacting more than 3,000 students worldwide, and their education guides have been used in 43 schools across India.
“This would not have been possible without the unconditional support that I have received from Hollins’ faculty and my peers,” stated Gangwani, a biology major and chemistry minor. “Hollins’ innovative classes such as “Social Media and Social Activism” (taught by Associate Professor of Communication Studies Vladimir Bratic) greatly supported me in my endeavors and instilled in me the 21st century skills needed to succeed with my social enterprise.”
The 2022 GTLs will convene virtually from July 11 – August 12 for WAFF’s Three Dot Dash Just Peace Summit. “I cannot wait to represent Hollins at the Summit,” Gangwani said.
The WAFF is a not-for-profit organization co-founded by legendary musician Nile Rodgers and is dedicated to the visions of a global family by creating programs that promote cultural diversity while nurturing and mentoring the vision, talents, and ideas of young people who are positively changing the world.
“The world is in a very dangerous place – environmentally, economically, politically, combined with systemic inequality and injustice permeating throughout,” said Rodgers and WAFF co-founder Nancy Hunt. “We need global cooperation to effectively address these issues, and we need to look to our global youth for their ideas, solutions, and actions to save our planet. They don’t believe in the word “NO.” They believe that anything is possible, and they ACT on it.”
Collectively, the work of this year’s GTLs addresses all 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
