Today we’d like to introduce you to Tanvi Gupta
Hi Tanvi, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
As a child, I spent most of my days surrounded by cardboard and masking tape on the floor of my family home. Despite the mundanity of the craft supplies that I lived amongst, my childhood was vibrant, as each day a new origami sword or cardboard robot made from our house’s garbage appeared by my bedside table. To my eight year old self, the possibilities of what I could create seemed endless.
However, as I grew up, this vibrancy faded. When I entered high school, I found that my peers and I became more accustomed to memorizing facts rather than actually applying our knowledge. We only ever worked in perfect scenarios in school, with questions that were made to be answered, and restricting tests that rarely ever allowed us to stray from an answer key.
So, as a way to re-ignite my own inspiration for creativity, but also bring back a passion for genuine learning and innovation among young students, I decided to create CADthinkers, a company which runs 3D printing and robotics lessons at local aftercare centers. Using my background knowledge from various 3D printing and Robotics projects, I began to teach younger students how to utilize their imaginations to create actual finished products, ranging from their own custom fidget spinners, pencil holders, to entirely new products they created by themselves, such as an action figure for their pollution-cleaning superhero.
By teaching these students and seeing their pure excitement to build and create, not only have I found myself more motivated to learn technical skills to share with them, but I’ve also become more excited to learn in general, now considering how the topics from school and my environment can contribute to more awesome projects. As CADthinkers has grown to encompass four high schools throughout Dallas, I’ve seen our volunteers undergo a similar effect, as they’ve immediately bonded with our eager and curious students, and found ways to spark their own curiosity alongside the CADthinkers program.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The main challenge in creating CADthinkers, as is with many things, was just getting started. Although CADthinkers now runs smoothly with our 16 person leadership team, at our initial stages, it was much more difficult to remain consistent with in-person lessons and online content.
A main struggle was just commuting to and from our main teaching center in Arlington. I live about an hour away from where we teach, and due to the constant commitments that came with high school, it was quite difficult for me to find time to instruct our students, and plan high-quality lessons consistently. However, with a few months of recruitment, and local engagement through the CADthinkers summer camp, our team was able to create a chapter at a high school close to our teaching facility in Arlington, making the process of getting dedicated volunteers much easier.
Another challenge with creating CADthinkers was the process of expanding our reach, as we wanted to provide educational opportunities for not only younger students, but also students our own age. It was hard initially, to balance creating in-person lessons, planning competitions, writing a book, and developing online workshops. However, by posting on social media consistently, reaching out to friends and family, and marketing through our separate schools, we were able to grow the CADthinkers leadership team exponentially, allowing our organization to serve the community through numerous different streams. With the countless meetings and hours each team member has dedicated to our organization over the past year, CADthinkers has thrived, as we have taught 40+ young students consistently, with volunteers throughout Dallas.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
CADthinkers is an educational organization which runs 3D printing and robotics lessons for young students, aged 7-13 years old. We are currently based in local aftercare centers in Arlington, TX, and our main priority is serving relevant, engaging lessons to our students as we try to pique their problem solving and critical thinking skills.
Our lessons generally begin by prompting students with a real-world challenge, such as in a recent lesson, we talked about obstacles within city planning, and we allowed the CADthinkers to bring to life their own city designs through 3D printing. As an organization, CADthinkers not only focuses on building the technical skills of our students, but also their awareness about challenging situations throughout Texas and nationally. We don’t just focus on the serious things though, as our students love to design their favorite superheroes and Disney characters into any project they’re working on. (Lilo and Stitch is a fan favorite)
Apart from in-person lessons, we also write blog posts, speaking on local causes we are passionate about, such as environmental cleanup around Dallas. We provide volunteering hours and leadership opportunities for high schoolers interested in engineering, business, or medicine. We also love making our own organization-wide projects, such as on our Youtube channel, where we make CAD and Robotics tutorials for beginners to create advanced projects, such as a prosthetic flex hand or realistic animals.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
In my opinion, calculated risks are an inevitable part of reaching any worthwhile goal. You aren’t growing at your maximum potential unless what you’re striving for makes you uncomfortable, and risks are often a source of that uncomfortable feeling.
Throughout my journey creating CADthinkers, and navigating other life challenges, I’ve strived to make myself comfortable with taking risks based off of my gut instinct, a decision that has proved invaluable to my achievements. In my case, the largest risk I took when creating CADthinkers was delegating time away from my studies and other clubs to pursue an idea that I would have to build by myself. There were no existing members, promised accolades, or recognitions with the idea, just the hope that CADthinkers could become something great. However, by sticking by my decision, after taking time to understand the sacrifices and upcoming challenges, the program has become more than I could have imagined.
I believe that oftentimes, people are fearful of taking risks just because they won’t know the outcome. However, for those individuals, I think its important to remember that there is no right or wrong decision, there will be challenges whether or not you take a risk, and it is up to you to adjust to your circumstances in either case. So, why not go for the choice that brings you the most excitement? If you have enough trust in your abilities to navigate through difficult times, risks serve as an asset and exciting prospect, instead of something to fear.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cadthinkers.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cadthinkers_/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cadthinkerstutorials
Image Credits
Shreya Yadav, Anya Diora
