I got the idea to reach out to the Narayan Guru School in Mangaluru, India after spending time at Achieve Miami (a non-profit organization) during my freshman year to earn community service hours. Seeing how much of a difference it made for the kids there inspired me to do something similar in India over the summer. After sending countless cold emails and doing research to find a school that needed a teacher and trusted me as a high schooler, I finally found a school willing to let me teach math and English.

The next step was the hardest—creating a lesson plan. I went to the school, got the curriculum, and spent hours crafting lessons. Even though I spent over eight hours a day for nearly a week planning, things didn’t always go as I expected. Sometimes we went further than I had planned, sometimes we didn’t get as far as I’d hoped. I also realized that some students, like Ravi, needed more attention. He struggled to learn the same way as others, so I had to get creative in finding ways to teach him. As the days passed, I realized that planning each lesson in detail wasn’t as important as understanding the overall subject I was teaching.

By the end of my trip, I had grown close to the kids, especially Ravi, who had spent more time with me than anyone else. I still remember his small, thin frame and his shy smile. He came from a family with very little, and I could see how much he longed for the opportunity to learn.

When I had to say goodbye, I saw Ravi cry, and it hit me hard. It was then I truly understood the impact I could make through engineering. Providing these kids with access to computers could open up a whole new world of possibilities, leading to a brighter future. This experience has fueled my passion to use technology to change lives and make a real difference.