Today we’d like to introduce you to Suden Prashar.
Suden, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started Student Led Chess Association (SLCA) in my sophomore year of high school with my friend Mahith Ravulapati. He and I had played chess for numerous years and enjoyed it as the perfect game that developed mental skills and helped foster friendships. We wanted to increase chess participation in our community as we noticed a need for more beginner-friendly programs and that current tournaments were much suited towards serious players and were quite expensive to attend. We sought to provide free chess education and inexpensive tournaments so that more people would start to play chess. Furthermore, we wanted to use chess to make a difference in our community, as we knew that we could use chess to raise awareness and support causes in the Greater Dallas area. We started by tutoring chess at a local preschool, hosting a charity tournament for Minnie’s Food Pantry, and hosting a national virtual chess workshop where we taught over 150+ students in the first two months. We continued to host more tournaments and expand our team, leading us to where we now run a national high school chess league, have raised $10,000 for charity, and have 25o+ school branches and 12 state affiliates across the United States and Canada.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the biggest challenges I faced initially was promoting our organization and events. For our first tournament, we reached out to numerous schools, community groups, sponsors, and charity organizations to be able to run a successful event but naturally, we received lots of nos. Yet, through persistence, we secured a venue, got over 30+ participants, and got a sponsor to provide prize money for tournament goers.
After that, when we set the goal of expanding nationally, we needed help getting partner schools and organizations. As such, we recruited a solid executive board team and established local and regional teams in various states that worked diligently to expand our tournaments, workshops, and other operations nationwide.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Student Led Chess Association is North America’s largest student-run chess nonprofit organization. We currently have 256 school branches across our 12 state affiliates in the United States and Canada. SLCA’s mission is to use chess to make a difference. SLCA operates numerous initiatives and programs to promote the game of chess, expand chess education, and support causes in local communities. SLCA currently runs high school leagues across 12 affiliate states where high school teams compete against each other in the build-up to a national event. In addition, SLCA runs charity tournaments to help raise money for causes in local communities. SLCA also operates free workshops to introduce new students to chess and has the C.A.S.T.L.E initiative, which focuses on running workshops in low-income communities.
Alright, so before we go, can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
You can apply to join the leadership team at https://studentledca.org/join-the-team.
You can apply to start a branch at https://studentledca.org/scholastic-branches.
You can donate to support our mission at https://studentledca.org/donate.
Email contact@studentledca.org if you wish to partner with our organization.
Contact Info:
- Website: studentledca.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studentledca/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/slca-north-america?trk=public_profile_experience-item_profile-section-card_subtitle-click
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@studentledca
Image Credits
Mahith Ravulapati
