Punyanuch Panyatara

Founder,
Elevating Societies

Punyanuch Panyatara is a 15 year old student advocating for climate action, poverty reduction and inclusive healthcare. What drives Peak to action is that she understands the importance of time, both from an urgency and management perspective, in tackling global issues. She is leading an initiative called Elevating Societies, where she explores the intersectionality of quality education, poverty, climate change, healthcare and mental health towards sustainable future generations. 

Growing up, she has personally witnessed systemic issues surrounding marginalized populations. One time, she recalls purchasing food for a beggar on the street. Her mom had always taught her to give food instead of money because we will never know what the beggar will use the money for. One day, upon spotting a beggar on the street, she decided to buy a very cheap grilled banana at an adjacent food stall and pass it to her. To her surprise, the beggar, a kind-looking elder, asked for me to eat the grilled banana instead - however, Peak insisted on completing this gesture, and the beggar thanked her with a thankful smile on her face. She learned from this experience that first, to truly build a sustainable society, looking after the health of a population is important. Second, the fact that even an uneducated beggar still has a kind heart and cares for future generations made her believe that should the beggar be educated, she would definitely create a positive impact on society.  

In high school, Peak continues to carry this spirit of integrating education and healthcare towards solving inequalities to motivate her towards higher learning. Academically, she enjoys mathematics because it empowers her to create more impact, and she won a gold certificate in UKMT. She also made significant improvements in the area of biology, which is relevant to global warming. To keep her active, she plays volleyball and received a recognition trophy, and competes in badminton as part of her school’s varsity team. Personally speaking, she continues to adhere to a strong sense of self-responsibility and time management, and holds herself accountable for both individual and team work. 

Thinking about her future, Peak looks forward to an exciting new chapter where she can achieve many things, such as being able to create projects for charity which creates a big impact on the healthcare field in the underdeveloped parts of Thailand. She wants to use her knowledge and help solve major problems, including improving the healthcare system. She wants to be able to educate and encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle to prevent long-term health problems. In order to live a healthy life, you would also need to consume a balanced diet which is lacking by the people living in poverty.