Theres a brown girl in the ring

we

slaughter

one another

with the stereotypes and mistrust that

lingers in our heads

nelson mandela once said

we don’t have to conform to our

stereotypes and we certainly

shouldn’t be enforcing them

hello everybody my name is avanti and

i’m a high school student from

california and i am honored and

privileged to stand in front of all of

you today to challenge stereotypes and

implicit biases on the basis of color

gender

race

croc users

and more

we are going to hear the stories of

those who rose to defeat their enemies

of equality

and hopefully we are going to recognize

some patterns by examining these stories

including that of avanti ramrat

yes that’s me it was either do this ted

talk or start a youtube vlogging channel

and my mom was pretty clear about which

of those things i should do

so

armed with the knowledge to defeat our

own stereotypes

we can slay the dragons of inequality

and hopefully craft a future without any

bias

at all

you may be wondering about the title of

my speech a brown girl in the ring

well the fact is that it is based on a

famous bony m song this song is based on

a game that was often played by youth in

the west indies and this game is a great

manifestation of two key tenants that

play a huge role in overcoming

stereotypes

gamification and role models

in this game a group of children form a

circle and one child is chosen as the

leader aka the role model

just like the second verse of the song

show me your emotion the child shows his

or her moves to the rest of the children

and they all imitate

then that role model child chooses a

partner and the partner becomes the next

brown girl in the ring

and the game goes on and on

and so i first want to talk about that

first key tenet that this game

illustrates of role models and

trailblazers i consider lupita young to

be a trailblazer do you

of course you do she’s a treasure but if

you haven’t heard of her before here’s a

little bit about what she’s accomplished

in 2014 lupita won the academy award for

best supporting actress in the movie 12

years a slave

becoming the sixth black actress and the

first kenyan actress to ever win this

award

but in an instant lupita had become an

inspiration for millions of women across

the globe

especially woman

like me

woman with unmistakably dark skin even

after zoom tries to touch up our

appearance

women like me who use makeup shades like

deep dark cocoa chocolate or brownie at

least that’s when we find any shades

that actually match us

lupita was invited to speak at a

hollywood fundraiser where she shared

the story of a little girl who had

written to her

the girl said that she was just about to

go out and buy skin lightening products

products that contain dangerous

chemicals like lead and arsenic

but she stopped the moment she witnessed

lupita’s rise to fame

because lupita had broken the age-old

stereotype that only fair is beautiful

she had proved that beauty and talent is

diverse

and that that diversity truly rocks

lupita had shown this girl the path to

her own success

the existence of these role models

serves as powerful imagery for the next

generations to visualize not only who

they want to be

but also who they can become

if they are to shatter their stereotypes

as a girl in stem

i’m on a tough path

but i discovered that lupita

was a role model and trailblazer

as women continue to break new ground

and the glass ceiling they’ll have a

compounding effect

they’ll function as role models for the

millions more watching or reading their

stories

they will become the next brown girl in

the ring featured in that very game as a

role model and leader that children and

youth will imitate and use as

inspiration to find their own success

and this compounding effect isn’t

limited to famous singers or hollywood

actresses or even just beyonce god bless

her though

it takes place in every field from the

arts to the sciences

which brings me to my own personal story

one that displays both role models and

gamification in the process of

shattering stereotypes

in fourth grade i co-founded a community

robotics team and became a part of a

global robotics organization called

first

first stands for for inspiration and

recognition of science and technology

and might i say my nine year journey

through first truly transformed me

it changed me from an impish fourth

grader

or i guess that’s just a regular 4th

grader

to a passionate stem ambassador stem

standing for science technology

engineering and math

and i scaled previously unimaginable

heights as i discovered my strength

confidence and compassion and

represented the united states in

international competitions

and drove global outreach

but i also discovered that there are not

a lot of girls in stem

research has shown that girls interest

in stem drops around the age of 15.

this is probably because according to

society’s standards it’s more hip to be

a cheerleader than a robotics programmer

in high school

according to the american association of

university women

women make up only 28 percent of the

workforce in science technology

engineering and math

and even when they get into the stem

workforce

on average women make fifteen thousand

dollars less in salary than men

this hits especially hard for black and

latino women who on average make 33 000

less an annual salary than men

but the fact is the only reason for this

difference is stereotype bias and

unequal treatment

studies reflect that when little girls

and boys were asked to draw

mathematicians and scientists

little girls were twice as likely

to draw men

and little boys almost universally drew

men

often

in a lab coat

but the thing is little girls and boys

perform equally well in the subjects of

math and science

meaning that stereotypes threaten and

prevent women from reaching their full

potential

as a girl in stem i am on a tough path

but maybe it’s one where i become a role

model

through research done via the united

nations my team and i discovered that

884 million people across the globe 75

million being in india alone are at risk

from life life-threatening diseases from

polluted water

3.4 million of those people die each

year from waterborne pathogens

my team created a small low-cost

do-it-yourself water filter that after a

lot of hard work and nights where my mom

finally let me stay up past 10

we were invited to present

at in front of many high-ranking

officials including those from the u.s

patent office at the 2018 global

innovation awards

my team was chosen from amongst 40 000

first lego league teams as one of the

top 20 in the world from across 80

countries

but the thing is

i wasn’t even that excited about the

great big trophy

that laid as the prize at the end

and in fact

my team didn’t even win that award

i was excited because my dream of making

a change in the world

was finally

feasible

it was at

my fingertips

i had a way to reach those affected in

india and across the globe

maybe i was finally worthy of hanging

out with malala

i was a girl in stem

and i had shattered by stereotype

because i made a difference in the

community around me

and around the world

i did then discovered that second

principle that makes a huge difference

when it comes to overcoming stereotypes

gamification

i know for certain there’s one thing

that children love a lot

games in fact we all love our games why

do we spend so much time watching sports

and cheering on our favorite teams

why is it that the entire country of

india pauses when there’s a cricket

match

from the days of the gladiators games

have always drawn vast interest in

crowds

the only difference is that the

gladiators were not vastly overpaid

games make us feel a part of a community

and they’re especially fun when you get

to make fun of the losing side

and so that brings me to the important

concept that is gamification but what

truly is it

gamification is defined as the use of

game mechanics research design and

experience to engage and motivate people

to achieve certain goals

via first teams like mine in robotics

apply gamification to our robotics

matches

we build a robot and then we compete

with millions cheering us on

okay i may have exaggerated a bit there

it’s typically a few enthusiastic

teammates and some even more

enthusiastic parents but when they

scream loud enough it sure does feel

like millions

and so what if we can make those

robotics matches more popular

how many more youth how many more girls

would it interest

and

how many more underprivileged youth

would we be able to get involved in the

stem activity

not everyone is cut out to be a star

athlete

my tennis instructor was very clear

about that

maybe even a little too clear

that’s all right though it’s true that

the possibility of a high school athlete

becoming a tennis star is one in a

million and we still cheer for kids

going down that path

but why not the same cheering for girls

in stem

why not the same cheering for a girl who

might one day become an award-winning

lawyer or the next president of this

nation

why do we only have cheerleaders for

sports

why not have them for robotics and

science fairs we need kids of all colors

all gender all race to imagine

themselves as future ceos

medical professionals scientists

engineers

whatever else they want to be

we need gamification to hook them in

and we need the support structures

necessary to cheer them on to excel

i’d like to encourage all of you my

esteemed audience

to motivate your children your

grandchildren anyone around you to look

around themselves

if they see themselves competing and

succeeding in a field where there are

not many others like them

they are doing a good thing

they are shattering a stereotype

and with the two tenets we’ve discussed

today of role models and gamification we

can only continue to break these shatter

and shatter these stereotypes one by one

because in the end

black or brown or white or girl or boy

or identifying with both even if you’re

wearing crocs with socks

shouldn’t ever matter

when it comes to chasing your dreams

which is why i am so proud to be

a brown girl

in the ring

thank you