Perceive Happiness is a student-led YouTube channel run by juniors Ananya Handa, Pragna Amilineni, and Joshika Nachiappan Rameshbabu. Their YouTube channel is dedicated to publishing public service announcements regarding societal issues in order to educate others. The idea sprung from their Honors English II project in which they created a PSA video for a topic of their choosing. Today, they continue to educate and inspire their followers with videos posted throughout the month.

How did you guys come up with the idea for your YouTube channel?

Ananya and Joshika: We started making the channel this summer, and we got the inspiration from one of our projects in Honors English II last year. It was a rhetorical situation project, and we liked how the videos came out and figured we could share them with people. We also wanted to do it so that we can educate people out and give PSAs so that others can actually learn more about some of the situations happening in the world.

What is your channel all about?

Pragna: It basically includes PSAs, and we actually have certain subjects that we base them around, so it is usually societal issues. We also make PSAs for raising awareness about global issues and the 17 sustainable goals, which are goals designed to create a better future for all. The whole idea is to bring awareness to younger people like ourselves.

What ideas and topics do you typically talk about on your channel?

Ananya: Normally, there are global problems like poverty, water texting, driving, and so on. It is not only societal issues but a lot of issues with our generation and our age. and sometimes we find these topics in the news or when browsing the internet. We find different things from everywhere, but we also take them out of the 17 sustainable goals which are from the United Nations.

Have you had any hardships due to the pandemic?

Joshika and Pragna: We all work remotely and while we are collaborating to make videos. How our team works is that we all choose a certain sustainability goal, and then work on the videos and then publish them. Having this project would have allowed us to actually physically talk and have meetings which would have allowed us to think about different ways to publicize the channel, but because of the pandemic, the only way to really do that right now is online or through social media. That is a little barrier there because if we want to spread awareness in person, whether that is posters or flyers putting them up nearby in the neighborhood, we cannot really do that.

Do you have any future projects that you are currently working on?

Pragna and Ananya: I think our next video is most likely going to be within the goals. I know we have a list on Google Docs that we look over from time to time, so we have ideas to make it, but I think our next one will be on gender equality. Over the break, I know that we are trying to get our website up. We have been trying to, but with school and being juniors we have had a lot to do. Hopefully, we get our website up after the break.

Students can find Perceive Happiness on their other social media platforms where they regularly post about the completion of the 17 sustainable goals as well as spread awareness on relevant societal issues.