Today we’d like to introduce you to Pranav Nathan.
Pranav, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I founded SparkSTEM with four of my friends, Julia Camacho, Emily Zhao, Risha Valera, and Anirudh Sudarshan, back in my freshman year. SparkSTEM originally started as an organization that would develop activity plans for students to use when starting their own school clubs. However, we soon realized that we could have a much larger impact if we used our knowledge and resources to raise money for underserved students in our community. So we started working on a slate of events we could host in order to generate funding for donation programs. We host a wide variety of events, from science fair seminars and mentorship programs to general science and programming classes. Our team has grown substantially from our original five, now consisting of 19 passionate members who have helped raise over $7000 for charity.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been the easiest path. There’s been a ton we’ve had to learn about founding and managing a nonprofit organization. From filing legal documents with the IRS to starting a bank account, this was all unfamiliar terrain for us. We had countless coffee shop meetings and late-night phone calls getting all the paperwork ready and discussing organizational structure.
One of our more recent challenges has been to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring, we were hosting a Science Class, where students got to learn about science concepts through interactive experiments and activities. However, due to the pandemic, we had to cancel the class halfway through the semester. We had to quickly adapt to the changes, so we decided to host a virtual science fair in order to raise funds for students impacted by the pandemic. Through it all, my amazing team has consistently worked hard to further our mission.
Please tell us about SparkSTEM.
SparkSTEM is a student-run 501c3 nonprofit organization that hosts a variety of STEM-based events and programs to raise money for underprivileged students in our communities. Our organization differs from others with our nationally and internationally recognized team of science fair and computer science experts, and through our strong emphasis on interactive and project-based learning.
In the past, we’ve held science fair seminars, virtual science fairs, and programming summer camps. Currently, we’re working on developing our series of Computer Science Classes and Science Fair Mentorship Programs. In just the past year and a half, SparkSTEM has raised over $7,000 for students in our community. In addition, our team has recently developed and donated 600 interactive STEM experiment kits to local children’s shelters and refugee centers.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I’m not sure I would do anything differently if given a chance. As SparkSTEM has grown and changed, so have I, and I think a large part of what’s special about our organization is that we’ve learned and adapted in response to our mistakes and challenges.
Pricing:
- Science Fair Mentorship Program – $95 for 10 sessions
- Computer Science Course (Scratch or Python) – $135 for 12 classes
Contact Info:
- Website: sparkstem.org
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @sparkstemorg
- Facebook: @sparkstemorg
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