Indian American Students Run a Non-Profit Initiative Inspiring a Passion for STEM Studies across the Globe


Indian American Students Run a Non-Profit Initiative Inspiring a Passion for STEM Studies across the Globe

An Indian American student-run organization located in Cupertino, California, is motivating young minds worldwide to pursue STEM-related subjects.

FREMONT, CA: An Indian American student-run organization located in Cupertino, California, is motivating young minds worldwide to pursue STEM-related subjects.

We Love STEM, a 501(c)(3) charity created by Ishani Das, the organization's president, and Anusha Singhai, the organization's vice president, delivers free STEM education to middle schools worldwide and aims to inspire and cultivate a love of STEM, particularly in under-resourced regions.

Das and Singhai, who are now juniors in high school, met in seventh-grade science class in the winter of 2017 and became fast friends. Because of this, Das said she decided to provide a learning opportunity to any kid who would find this application of STEM skills interesting and ignite a life-long interest in it.

The two founders met every week in the same library, where they began teaching We Love STEM workshops to attend a Girls Who Code session together. We Love STEM began in Das' living room in the summer of 2019 with only three pupils. The group formally launched in the fall of 2019 when they offered their first course, Arduino, at their local library, the Cupertino Library, during the 2019-20 school year.

Summer camps, year-round workshops, and guest speaker events are all part of the curriculum. It also generates funds for social groups through fundraisers. For example, we Love STEM collected over 700 dollars for oxygen organizations in India to combat the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic as recently as May.

In the future, the duo aims to reach out to more under-resourced children who may not have access to the same STEM learning opportunities in their local schools and afterschool programs, particularly abroad.

We Love STEM includes a volunteer team of Indian and Asian American young women from all across the United States, in addition to Das and Singhai. Since its inception in 2019, the group says that it has evolved from an essential summer Arduino class with three students in a living room to a worldwide organization with more than 190 students and seven chapters across the world. In the future, the team hopes to reach out to more underserved students who may not have access to the same STEM learning opportunities in their local schools and afterschool programs, especially those in developing countries.