Vivek Parihar, Age 18

School: Senior at Los Gatos High School

Accomplishments

• Plays squash competitively
• Has been doing Junior Achievement at eBay for two years
• Member of speech and debate team at Los Gatos High School
• Plays guitar, drums, piano and flute
• Beginning to produce music
• Gave a speech at an eBay fundraiser on behalf of the company
• Has applied for internships at AT&T and San Francisco Giants

•  Ebay trade fair representative
• Will graduate on time despite having torn liver in half and having missed two years of school due to health complications.

Key to Awesomeness:

In June of 2009, Vivek was involved in a serious bicycle accident on Los Gatos Boulevard, which caused the bike's brake handle to pierce his liver.

As he puts it, it was the "cherry on top" of an already complicated medical history due to liver problems.

The accident occurred just as he was re-entering school as a freshman after missing part of his seventh-grade and all of eighth-grade.

He was hospitalized for about a month, returning to school in November of 2009. His health challenges have taught him patience and the importance of being nice and caring toward others.

"I live by two simple axioms: work hard and be nice," says this resilient whiz kid when asked about his key to success. "Working hard means making necessary sacrifices to be absolutely dedicated to a cause."

Being nice means making people feel comfortable around you and acting with deference, he continues. This, he says, gives them the love and respect that they deserve as people.

"I view the world as very black and white and these things seem simple and within everyone’s power to do; they are so easy to do because they are the right things to do," he says.