Tempe teen to speak at pre-convention events

After traveling to places in Japan, India and Mexico, a visit to Denver may not seem very exciting to a high school senior.

Unless you're environmental activist Smitha Ramakrishna of Tempe and you're speaking at events leading up to the Democratic National Convention.

Never mind that 17-year-old Ramakrishna will be too young in November to vote.

"I'm kind of bummed about that," she said.

Ramakrishna will be representing the youth of the country as the only high school student asked to speak at the American Renewable Energy Day conference on Saturday.

She'll also sit on two panel discussions - one alongside Peter Buffett (son of finance mogul Warren) and his wife, Jennifer.

The Buffetts are co-founders of the Novo Foundation, which helps promote equity for girls and women around the world.

Ramakrishna will also be a guest of Gov. Janet Napolitano at the Democratic National Convention.

Ramakrishna is no stranger to public speaking about the environment, especially her passion - clean water issues.

She was a speaker at the 2005 Children's World Summit for the Environment in Aichi, Japan.

Connections she made there led to her invitation to speak this weekend about youth empowerment.

As far as her finishing her speech, Ramakrishna said, "I've been trying to write that between classes."

Ramakrishna is taking a full load of classes at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe.

At age 12, she founded AWAKE (Arizona Water Activists Karing for the Environment), a group she has kept going.

Since then, AWAKE has gone from a global focus - fundraising efforts provided clean water to more than 3,000 youth in India last year - to a local focus, sharing conservation information with adults and children at schools and events.

"We realize to get action you need to get people aware of the situation," she said. "Living in Arizona, which is desert, and you can turn on a faucet and gushing water comes out. That gave me more of a global perspective, that what I do here doesn't just affect my parents' water bill, but the globe."

Her parents, Pushpa and B.L. Ramakrishna, are both science professors in the East Valley, one at Chandler-Gilbert Community College and one at Arizona State University. They will travel with her this weekend.

"The sky's the limit with this young lady. Smitha is off the charts," said Debbie Moore, her school counselor. "Her passion - she gets it."

And if you ask Ramakrishna about her future and being a leader of tomorrow, she's quick with her answer.

"I believe you can make a difference. Really everything that's going on now is impacting our generation. They say we are the leaders of tomorrow. But why tomorrow? Why not today?"