Just over a month ago, on February 26th, WA junior, Medha Palnati, stood on the step of Boston Common to speak at the Emergency Rally to Stand for Democracy. The rally was put together by a woman named Olivia Rose to speak out in response to all the allegations against former National Security Advisor under President Trump, Michael Flynn, as well as Russian involvement in the Trump Administration.

“It was just kind of to protest [Flynn and the Russian involvement] and also demand an investigation into it,” Palnati said.

According to Palnati, she initially wasn’t planning to speak, but she was looking to get more involved in all the rallies that had been going on in Boston. Therefore, she decided to message Rose over Facebook, requesting to speak at the rally. Once Rose approved Palnati’s request, Palnati wrote an eight-minute speech in preparation for the rally.

“It was honestly a really, really good experience. A lot of people came up to me after and said they appreciated that I was there, especially since I’m not someone of voting age yet, so for a lot of people that was something that was new, and a lot of people said that it gave them hope,” Palnati said.

In her speech, Palnati discussed the reported ties between the U.S. Election and the Russian government. However, she also says that she mostly talked about the difference between her growing up in a country that has always had the ideals of democracy as well as the foundations of a republic and those who grew up in different generations.

“In my lifetime, I feel like this is the first time that it’s really been challenged,” she said.

Furthermore, Palnati believes that there is a large misconception is that teens don’t really get involved in politics or even care about it. Although she feels that it may be somewhat true, she says that for her personally, she has become a lot more politically active because of the Trump Administration.

Also, after the rally in Boston, Palnati was invited to speak at the Massachusetts Trans Political Coalition rally, a rally against President Trump’s rollback on transgender students’ rights to use the bathroom of their choice.

“That was honestly the same experience. It was really, really good and I got a lot of good feedback,” she said.

In addition, Palnati noticed that the crowd at that particular rally was different than the crowd at the Boston Common.

“It was an issue that regarded the LGBTQ community instead of just the Trump Administration as a whole. It was interesting to see how that divided people too. It was just a different atmosphere, it wasn’t good or bad, it was just different,” she said.

As for future rallies, Palnati is unsure as to what she will attend. However, she does know she will be attending the March for Science in Boston, which will be held later this month.