Home / Dallas News / Plano fifth-grader with a podcast, a finalist in an international kindness contest, needs your votes

Plano fifth-grader with a podcast, a finalist in an international kindness contest, needs your votes

So you think you can create a podcast better than a fifth-grader? Then you haven’t heard Riya Chhaya, a Plano ISD student who promotes acts of kindness and offers tips and information for other kids through her podcast, “Riya’s Ramblings.”

The 11-year-old began her podcast about a year ago and has since grown her mission to spread kindness. Riya is a finalist in an international speech contest for Think Kindness, a Reno, Nev., based group that inspires students and educators to spread goodwill – no matter how small the act of kindness may seem. More than 80 entries were received, and Riya was one of the top 10.

“It was an amazing feeling,” Riya said in an interview.

Her video entry starts with a poem about COVID-19 and how the world needs kindness now more than ever.

“COVID isn’t just a medical virus,” Riya says. “It’s a social virus that’s caused many other issues, like racial injustice and poverty.”

Each email address can vote once a day until voting ends on Sunday, June 6.

“Kindness is a cure,” Riya said in the interview. “It can make people feel really good.”

One way Riya has put that principle into practice is by thanking her teachers at Bethany Elementary on her podcast.

“Do you guys know what teachers are?” Riya asks, addressing her peers. “They’re mentors, they’re cheerleaders and superheroes. But they’re so much more than that, guys. Thank you to all of my teachers I’ve had for teaching me so much. They’ve taught me the normal subjects in school — academic stuff — but mostly, they’ve taught me how to be a good person.”

Her father, Harshal Chhaya, said Riya recently organized an act of kindness when the family went to get their COVID-19 shots. She decided to make some goodie bags for the nurses.

“That seemed liked a good way to say thanks and just encourage people to do something similar,” he said. “It was appreciated by the nurses.”

“Riya’s Ramblings” is on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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