Youth Spotlight: Suri Raol

By Mikayla Curtis: Director of Strategic Impact

What happens when you combine passion with action? A whole lot of good for the community. 

When Suri Raol, a current sophomore at Battle Mountain High School, was just a little girl, she loved exploring and playing on the river behind her home with her family.  

One day while paddleboarding at six years old, she asked her father what the "chocolate donuts" were in the river. Her father explained they weren't donuts but old tires that had been dumped over time. Suri knew the river was no place for trash, especially old tires and immediately wanted to do something about it.  It took her and her family about a year to get permission from the Army Corp of

engineers and figure out the most environmentally friendly way to extract them.  

So, with the help of her family and a few friends they removed 200+ tires from 2017-2019.  With the additional help of her community, local rafters and anglers they organized their first tire extraction event April 2019.  The following year, due to a large run-off more tires were uncovered.  With CoVid Suri and her family spent a lot of time on the river and decided to resume the effort.  Her most recent tire extraction effort took place just this past September with 300+ tires being removed.  Suri knows there may still be additional tires that get uncovered but feels the majority are now gone and the river is cleaner for it. 

Suri feels like she’s been able to find herself through water and rivers. She loves to be outdoors whenever she can but is currently active with school theater as another space she’s found herself.  It’s where she’s felt at home, found some great friends and a sense of belonging. Suri wouldn’t describe herself as the most outspoken or someone who seeks attention, but theater gives her a space to explore this side of her personality and break out of her shell a bit and get out of her comfort zone. When she’s not active in these two spaces, she really enjoys hanging out with friends, eating good food, shopping and spending time with her family and dog. She shares that her mood gets better whenever she’s together with friends, family and her pet. Suri also enjoys skiing, rafting, paddleboarding, and music.  

When asked what she sees as a need other youth face, she shares that recognizing that actions have consequences is an important lesson that will support them through life. When asked to share words of advice for the broad community, Suri encourages everyone to make a small change somehow, hers started in her backyard. “It’s easy to pick up trash or make any small change that has a chain reaction effect.” When asked to share more specific advice for the youth community, Suri shares that it’s important to try new things; “you won’t know where you’ll find your place without trying something new.” She also shares that it’s important for youth to not “have a fixed mindset about what you can and can’t accomplish" if she had fixated on the problems and limitations of removing so many tires, she wouldn’t be proud of what she’s accomplished today. 

Trying new things is important to Suri and something she continues to pursue. She looks forward to continuing to travel the world to new places, try new foods and have many new amazing experiences.  While Suri is primarily focused right now on getting through high school and going to college, she hopes to be remembered in this community as someone who recognized a problem and instead of ignoring it took action to make her environment (the Eagle river) a better place.  She is proud, along with her family and community members, that she’s done something so beneficial for the Eagle river and watershed. We’re grateful for the leadership Suri’s taken with this project, the good she’s contributed to our community, and look forward to what else she’ll accomplish now and in the future.