Community Service
Mentorship as part of FIRST Robotics
I am the programming captain of my school’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team. To share my experiences and skills with others, led our team’s ‘Robotics Deconstructed’ program, which aimed to mentor students in robotics to start new FRC, FTC and FLL teams.
I introduced 50 students from both my school as well as the Aditya Birla World Academy (AWBA) to robot programming using the WPI Library. I taught a batch of 20 students from the Air Force School Hebbal (AFSH) the basics of Java. Together, we created a simple calculator app. Eager to explore, they began working on their own personal projects, asking me for guidance along the way. I was a teaching assistant in a web-development course for 40 students from Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai. Mentoring students from the Sankalp Shikshan Sanstha for the hearing impaired my most challenging yet fulfilling experience. While I taught them robotics, I learned from their creativity and dedication.
Fire Safety Manual
While learning more about fire-safety, I came across several manuals. While they were informative, I found it difficult to retain concepts. Determined to present fire-safety to students in a more engaging way, I began illustrating a visual fire-safety manual in Adobe Illustrator. I gave fire-extinguishers and smoke clouds names, characters, and animated expressions.
Working with FSAI, I have distributed over 500 copies of my manual in schools across India. I also translated my manual into Hindi to expand my reach. Some students even converted my manual into a short play. Watching videos of them pretending to be fire-extinguishers fighting smoke, enjoying while learning about fire-safety, I felt successful.
Here’s an e-version of my manual.
HelpOut
I, along with a few friends, started HelpOut in 2018 to help Ladiwali, a village near my city. The single school in Ladiwali lacked furniture, books and stationery, which impacted students’ learning. To support these students, we held small football tournaments and community Housie events and raised funds. We invested in a printer, photocopy machine, desks, shelves and textbooks for students. Apart from supporting their education, we organised a ‘health drive’ and gave everyone in Ladiwali free health checkups. We also provided spectacles for students who were unable to afford them.
Learn more about our projects here.