Ananya + Isabella

At the very root of intersections is a friendship - fast-formed, but deeply rooted- that began, as many things in our lives have, on the St. Timothy School playground.

Nervous and in our itchy polyester blouses (made all the itchier by the sweltering August heat) we found solace in having each other as buddies (especially ones who also liked to read) to traverse the trenches of the first day of Kindergarten.

Our friendship grew ever stronger as we adventured the perilous seas of elementary school together: show-and-tells, spelling bees, and science fairs.

The challenges of changing schools and the Covid-19 pandemic hit our friendship hard and we lost touch for a few years, until a chance encounter catalyzed finding our way back to each other. While we still devote a large sum of our time together discussing books (many of which have served as inspiration for Intersections), we’ve also put our complimentary skill sets, interests, and experiences into collaborating on climate-related projects.

For Ananya Gupta, now a high school junior at Geffen Academy, Intersections is a result of her passion for climate, sustainability, the outdoors, and gender equality. She spends much of her free time in the ocean: surfing, diving, and swimming, and when she’s not, you’ll likely find her playing club water polo for a boy’s team, backpacking through mountains, or playing guitar around a campfire.

After graduating high school early, Isabella Guglielmetti is attending Santa Monica College, where her course list reflects her diverse interests: culture, communications, design, food, forests, environment, politics, psychology, poetry, and so on. Best defined by her curiosity, she loves learning by exploring and connecting with the people and world around her, and hopes to pursue climate communication and environmental psychology.

Together, we’re endlessly excited to be developing an initiative which is the manifestation of what we wish were taught about climate in high school. We’re both lucky to have had the opportunities in and out of school to educate ourselves (especially about climate) and want to make sure all students have the opportunity to have access to climate education, engage in climate dialogue, and are given a chance to make lasting change.