Community Service
Free Urban Extracurricular Learning (FUEL)
Scratch club is an extracurricular run by FUEL which teaches scratch code to Abby Kelly Foster Middle school students. I was an instructor for this club, and although I had no scratch experience, the code was very intuitive, and I enjoyed seeing all of the students learn. Beside is a picture of the code used in the final project of the term.
After helping throughout the year with the scratch club, I was chosen to be on the executive board of the FUEL organization, since the seniors at Mass Academy who ran the organization are graduating. I am the CTO of the FUEL board, and I will work to create new content for future lessons, train new volunteers, and continue as an instructor.
STEM Week
STEM Week is a collaboration between Mass Academy and Abby Kelley Foster Elementary School. Mass Academy students act as instructors to teach advanced STEM concepts to elementary school students through fun activities and crafts.
I chose the binary beads activity, in which students were taught how to count in binary and then convert their name to binary using each letter's ASCII code. Then, the students chose two colors of beads to match with either a 1 or and 0 and created a chain representing their name in binary. This activity was very enjoyable, and it was very cool to see how fast some students were picking up on the concepts.
Personal
Dance
This is a picture of my cousins, my brother, and me at a family function. My cousins and I are dressed in matching clothes, because we performed a choreographed dance at the event. Dancing is very special to me, since the style I do combines both Western and Indian techniques. It is a way for me to appreciate my heritage and blend the two cultures that I am a part of.
I started dancing Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian style of dance, when I was seven years old. I continued for the next four years, but I stopped taking classes when I moved to a new town. Recently, I've started dancing again with my cousins, and I've enjoyed rediscovering one of my past passions.
STEM Fair
My science fair partner and I took this picture for our local newspaper after winning 1st place in the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair. Our board and the prototype for our engineering project are shown in this picture. This represented a turning point for me, because I had never won a competition before. Science fair allowed me to see my own strengths and passions, and winning gave me a sense of acknowledgement for my hard work.
Walk for Hunger
This is a picture of my friends and me at Project Bread's 20 mile Walk for Hunger. Although I was accustomed to working hard for my academic work and extracurricular activities, this walk was the first time I pushed myself to my limits physically. After the 15th mile, every step felt like it hurt, but I was determined to finish the walk. The Walk for Hunger taught me about perseverance and endurance, while letting me contribute to a good cause.
I have now participated in three Walks for Hunger, one of which was digital fundraising due to pandemic restrictions. These events raised my social awareness of food insecurity and poverty, which led to me volunteering at a food bank in my town. Here is a link to Project Bread's website if you want to participate in the Walk for Hunger as well.