Lambert High School students have a reputation for pursuing science-related careers. They take multiple science classes, go through science-related pathways and join well known clubs such as HOSA, iGEM and Robotics. However, senior Vinayak Menon had another trajectory in mind.

Menon grew up in Evansville, Indiana where he was one of the few Indian kids at his school. While ensuring that Vinayak was in touch with his roots, his parent’s found it important to equip him with an interest in American culture, history and politics.

At a young age, Menon found any and every opportunity to read his father’s latest copy of The Economist magazine. In his free time, he would watch political debates and his favorite politicians, such as Obama, discuss important issues.

“Something that’s really interested me in politics is seeing how we can get and unify people together collectively to address some of these bigger issues,” Menon stated.

In sixth grade, Menon decided to join his middle school’s public forum, with the goal of making his articulation skills as advanced as the political figures he watched on TV.

“I was always someone that [sic] was very talkative,” Menon stated. “I just came across an opportunity to do something like speech and debate and try to refine my voice a little bit more and that was something I really wanted to jump into.”

He soon realized his knack for debate and began to win numerous high level awards. Eventually, Menon became the first person in Georgia to be on the National level Debate team and was able to travel to different countries to debate global issues.

“We talk about global topics such as the economic situation in Indonesia or the environmental situation in different countries and different stuff like that,” Menon stated.

As captain of the National Debate Team, He leads a team of twelve people and is also the co-president of Lambert’s debate club.

Menon uses his exemplary public speaking skills to advocate against substance abuse, an issue prevalent in highschools across the country.

Menon’s activism began once he learned how prevalent substance abuse is amongst his peers and adolescents in the local community.
He described how meeting the mother of a former Lambert student who passed away from an opiate overdose made him realize that even hardworking kids struggle with drug abuse.

Freshman year, Menon recorded PSAs for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and GovPrePart youtube channels, and put up drug awareness flyers around the school campus. After years of extensive research, Menon brought his campaign to the Forsyth County Government.

Menon is currently the president of Forsyth County’s Drug Awareness Council and focuses on countering issues such as e-cigarette, opioid and fentanyl use by creating campaigns to address this addiction epidemic.

During the pandemic, he worked to guarantee that everyone had access to medicine exposal kits.

“A lot of people had pills that were unused, but had no way to destroy them,” Menon stated. “I went out and started distributing these drug disposal kits, and I ended up getting them in the hands of 10,000 families across the state of Georgia.”

Menon is also a part of the National Youth Advisory Drug Council (CADCA) and is presenting his opinions about the widespread drug abuse epidemic to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.

Not only is Menon inclined towards politics and social work, he is also a dedicated business leader. Menon is currently the State Vice President of Georgia Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and hopes to use the skill sets that he learned in this position in the future where he plans to build a background in Public Policy and Economics and eventually go to law school.

Menon also intends on maintaining his political background by starting a non-governmental organization (NGO) and helping more members of the community.