Global Indianstory Global Indian ExclusiveWhat’s with Indian-Americans and the US Spelling Bee contest?

What’s with Indian-Americans and the US Spelling Bee contest?

Compiled by: Namrata Srivastava

(June 14, 2022) In 1985, Balu Natarajan became the first Indian-American kid to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. And since then, the Indian-American community has pretty much dominated the competition. Even though they make up only about one percent of the United States’ population, 27 Indian Americans have won the Spelling Bee championship so far since 1999, including the most recent winner Harini Logan.

According to Pawan Dhingra, professor of sociology and American Studies at Amherst College, the success of Indian-Americans at the Scripps National Spelling Bee stems from the firm commitment of their families to spend the kind of time and money needed to prepare their kids. “These children are not just brilliant in spellings, they also excel in geography, mathematics and other academic competitions”, Dhingra wrote in The Conversation.

Global Indian puts the spotlight on five Scripps National Spelling Bee champions, who have made us all proud.

Harini Logan

Indian-American teen Harini Logan emerged as the champion of the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee. A student of Grade VIII from San Antonio, Texas won the 94th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee by spelling the most words correctly in a spell-off, the Bee’s first since its inception in 1925. Harini managed to spell through more words than more than 230 other competitors at the national level, including 12 other finalists. “I’ve been working towards the Bee for nearly seven years, since I was in first and second grade,” Harini said in a media interaction shortly after winning the title. “Spelling is something that sticks with you for life. Once you get into this journey, there’s a dedication you develop along with a work ethic. Networking for the bee is another skill you learn along the way.”

Harini Logan

The competition was rigorous, with 20 rounds culminating in a lightning round that pitted the top two finalists in a showdown in which they attempted to correctly spell as many words as possible within 90 seconds. The youngster beat Vikram Raju, another Indian origin student, who studies in Grade VII in Denver. While Logan spelled 21 words correctly, her opponent could only manage 15. Harini’s parents are from Chennai, and she has a younger brother.

Karthik Nemmani

A soft-spoken eighth-grader from McKinney, Dallas, Karthik Nemmani was declared the champion in the 2018 edition of Scripps National Spelling Bee. Interestingly, this 17-year-old came to the Bee through a new program called RSVBee, which allows spellers who haven’t won a regional bee or had a chance to compete with the best. Karthik was in a nail-biting competition against another Indian-American, Naysa Modi who misspelled “Bewusstseinslage” and paved way for Karthik’s victory.

Karthik Nemmani

The champion took home 40,000 USD and a trophy from Scripps Bee, which is sponsored by the EW Scripps media group, in addition to a $2,500 cash prize from Merriam-Webster, the dictionary publisher and other prizes. Karthik had to spell two words correctly to seal the title, which he did with ease, and the teenager stepped back and smiled as he was showered with confetti. His winning word was “koinonia,” which means Christian fellowship or communion. “It was just an adrenaline rush,” he told media after winning the competition, adding, “I had confidence, but I didn’t think it would really happen.”

Follow Karthik Nemmani on LinkedIn

Nihar Janga

At 11, Nihar Janga emerged as the youngest speller to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee title in the year 2016. The young kid from Austin, Texas nearly won outright twice in the championship rounds following errors by another contestant – Jairam Jagadeesh Hathwar, who was the co-winner of the title. Interestingly, an audience favorite, Nihar was often seen verifying definitions of obscure words with the judges — “is that an Irish prime minister?” — rather than requesting them.

Nihar Janga

“I am just speechless. I can’t say anything. I am only a fifth grader,” Nihar said with the trophy in his hand, as he attributed his success to his mother. “My mom. It’s just my mom,” the Spelling Bee champion said.

Follow Nihar Janga on Twitter and LinkedIn

Ananya Vinay

Ananya Vinay became the 13th consecutive Indian-American to win the contest and 18th of the past 22 winners with Indian heritage, in 2017. The 12-year-old from Fresno, California, showed little emotion and didn’t take much time as she ploughed through word after word. Sometimes she would blurt out questions, with little intonation “Part of speech?” “Language of origin?”

Ananya Vinay

Unflappable to the end, Ananya seized the opportunity when her steely opponent, Rohan Rajeev, flubbed a simple-looking but obscure Scandinavian-derived word, “marram,” which means a beach grass. She calmly nailed two words in a row, ending on “marocain,” which means a type of dress fabric of ribbed crepe, to win the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee. “I knew them all,” Ananya said, after winning the trophy, adding, “It’s like a dream come true. I’m so happy right now.”

Sukanya Roy

Most people couldn’t spell “cymotrichous” with a dictionary. Fourteen-year-old Sukanya Roy from Pennsylvania isn’t most people – she spelled her way through it with ease, going on to win the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The teenager who participated in the high-profile annual U.S. spelling competition for the third time, won after 20 rounds in the final competition that went on until late evening. An eighth grader at Abington Heights Middle School, Sukanya traced the letters of each word on her hands, round by round, increasing her confidence, she said.

Sukanya Roy

After winning, she was shaking with excitement. “My heart started pounding, I guess. I couldn’t believe it,” Sukanya told an ESPN broadcaster immediately after receiving her trophy. Speaking about spelling “cymotrichous” – which means having wavy hair – correctly, she said, “I knew it immediately, but I focused on just spelling it right.” Besides the trophy, she took home a $30,000 cash prize, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond, a complete reference library, a $5,000 scholarship, $2,600 in reference works and other prizes.

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Published on 14, Jun 2022

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Healthcare for all: US teen’s app improves life in rural Maharashtra

(February 23, 2023) On a summer trip to India in 2014, Aryaman Khandelwal and his family were going by road to Chikaldara, a village in Maharashtra. The area is famous for growing corn and the family stopped at roadside stalls to try it. On the way, he saw a little boy, no more than ten years of age, carrying a sack of corn twice his size. "It was an impetus for me, something needed to change," he said, in an interview. Then a senior at Parkland High School, Aryaman went on to found Get2Greater over the next couple of years, an AI-driven app to improve access to healthcare services. When he saw the young boy carrying corn, it dawned on Khandelwal that life wasn't so easy for everyone. "They had to work so hard to make do," he said. His efforts earned him the Gloria Barron Prize in 2017, which is given to young people with significant social initiatives. "The entire idea was inspired by a human geography course at school," he said, adding, "The class was about demographics and societies changing over time and developing and developed countries working together to create societal progress across the board. The idea

given to young people with significant social initiatives. "The entire idea was inspired by a human geography course at school," he said, adding, "The class was about demographics and societies changing over time and developing and developed countries working together to create societal progress across the board. The idea interested me and I wanted to implement it." So, in 2015, the young Global Indian began work, reaching out to family members who had worked as doctors in rural Maharashtra.

[caption id="attachment_27788" align="aligncenter" width="490"] Aryaman Khandelwal[/caption]

Collaboration with the MAHAN Trust

Aryaman was put in touch with the MAHAN Trust, which provided healthcare to rural parts of the state. The NGO was founded in 1997 by Dr Ashish, who wanted to improve medical care and health services to tribal communities in the Melghat region. They have set up a hospital, child care programmes, eye testing, run nutrition farms and carry out socio-economic research. Through them, Aryaman learned that "maybe 10 to 15 trained guys serve a population of 200,000," he said.

At the time, the MAHAN Trust was training village health workers to carry out basic processes. They dealt with numerous challenges, aside from the lack of qualified doctors and healthcare workers and had to work around the system. There were many quacks, who would quit studying after a year of med school and return home as ‘healthcare providers’. People were also deeply suspicious of outsiders and western medicine alike and didn’t really want to talk to healthcare workers who arrived from elsewhere.

Locals were, however, comfortable with the trained workers, who were from their own communities, who were otherwise not fully educated. "They were trained to take basic measurements, record them and take the data to a hospital," Aryaman explained. Doctors would review it and send back treatments or diagnoses. While the method was innovative, and showed results, it was time-consuming and could take anywhere between two weeks to two months.

Building Get2Greater

That's where Get2Greater came in - it separates the unhealthy from the healthy, so doctors could focus on the more pressing cases. The app can record basic health metrics, compile it in order of priority and send it to doctors nearby. When he started, however, Aryaman "just had a passion and an idea." Equipped with a basic software prototype, Aryaman sent a tablet to MAHAN in India and established a line of correspondence. "I asked them to critique the app," he said. "I realised that India is very far away from the US! We could only speak for a few hours late at night or early in the morning. There was also very little electricity and connectivity."

He began reaching out for collaborations. Aryaman's proposal won him funding from Lehigh Valley LaunchBox, an entrepreneurial program run by Penn State Lehigh Valley. After numerous trials and bug fixes, Aryaman replaced English with Hindi and created a Wi-Fi component so the devices could connect to the local hospitals. He has also been in talks with the UN to help take the device to other parts of India and the world.

Aryaman, who was named 2018 US Presidential Scholar and a Coca-Colar Scholar in 2018, went on to earn a Bachelor's of Science in Engineering in Computer Science from Princeton University. He went on to found ‘Stealth’ along with Harvard grad Dean Hathout.

Follow Aryaman Khandelwal on LinkedIn

Reading Time: 5 mins

Geraldine Viswanathan: Half Indian-half Swiss actress lights up Hollywood

(November 1, 2022) Born to an Indian doctor father and a Swiss artist mother, Hollywood actress Geraldine Viswanathan grew up in Australia with a deep love for horses and acting. After appearing in a Kodak television commercial when she was four years old, Geraldine began honing her acting skills. Geraldine who has also worked as a voice artist grew up deeply loving performing arts as part of her upbringing. Her mother Anja Raith who runs an acting school, attended musical theatre school in London and was an aspiring actress before getting married to her Tamil descent father Suresh Viswanathan. Geraldine’s maternal grandfather was a ballet dancer and film maker. The actress, who has been in the Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Nex Gen Talent,’ list as one of the 20 rising stars of the industry, is passionate about horses. “I came out of the womb loving horses, I don’t know what happened,” she joked in an interview with W Magazine. Groomed to be a star The 1995-born actress attended the Hunter School of Performing Arts at New Castle, Australia, enrolling in drama classes when she was in kindergarten. Although she was young, she was determined to begin preparing for what she knew would

le="font-weight: 400;">“I came out of the womb loving horses, I don’t know what happened,” she joked in an interview with W Magazine.

Groomed to be a star

The 1995-born actress attended the Hunter School of Performing Arts at New Castle, Australia, enrolling in drama classes when she was in kindergarten. Although she was young, she was determined to begin preparing for what she knew would be her future.

[caption id="attachment_23669" align="aligncenter" width="804"] Geraldine with Daniel Radcliffe[/caption]

“I remember being in this play when I was in grade five. I never got any leading roles, but I did get one little comedic bit part and I remember getting a laugh and feeling pretty cool about it,” she said in an interview with wwd.com.

When Geraldine turned 15, her family moved to Los Angeles for a few months. It became a turning point for the actress, who turned this family move into an opportunity to set a base in America, securing a manager for starting a career in Hollywood. Australia had comparatively limited options for her in acting, outside the stereotypical work.

[caption id="attachment_23672" align="aligncenter" width="839"] Geraldine with her co-star[/caption]

At the end of her family’s stay, she came back to Australia with them but continued working on her career. She would send audition tapes to her manager in America, while performing standup and sketch comedy with her group, Freudian Nip, back in Australia as she waited for her big break.

When she turned 20, Geraldine was selected for the Heath Ledger Scholarship, that gets awarded to an emerging Australian actors with extraordinary ability and dedication to their craft.

Amidst all the developments in Australia, she remained committed to her American dream and later after making big in Hollywood, told in an interview to Insider, "Here in America I didn't feel held back by my ethnicity, which was a really exciting feeling."

[caption id="attachment_23671" align="aligncenter" width="941"] Geraldine with her Miracle Workers team[/caption]

The big break

In 2016, Geraldine was cast to appear in the film, Emo the Musical in Australia where she had a very small part to play. The following year she joined the cast of ABC’s drama series Janet King in the country that she calls home - Australia.

It was in 2018 that she got her breakout role as an actor in the film Blockers in the US. She played the role of one of the teens whose parents are determined to not let them lose their virginity on the night of their high school prom, while the teens are hell bent on doing so. The film turned out to be the surprise comedy hit of the year. Geraldine’s role was acknowledged, and her dream of having a career in America finally saw the light of the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vhy589rkgU

Following this, she went on to work on two critically acclaimed movies Bad Education where she played an Indian character, and Hala in which she portrayed the role of a girl from Pakistan. Both films earned rave reviews at Sundance Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. Bad Education even managed some Emmy nominations.

Reel and real

In 2020 Geraldine starred in Selena Gomez-production, The Broken Hearts Gallery at Toronto, Canada. It was a breakthrough movie for her in many ways. She not only starred alongside a fellow Australian actor Dacre Montgomery but also like her real life she portrayed the character of a Brown girl whose mother is blonde. The reel mother even looked similar to her real mother.

Just a few years into her career, the actress enjoys a fairly large fan base and has shared the screen with established stars like Allison Janney, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Radcliffe. She has been playing recurring roles in the Australian series Janet King, and TBS comedy anthology, Miracle Workers in the US which is in its third season.

[caption id="attachment_23667" align="aligncenter" width="872"] Geraldine on the set of Miracle Workers[/caption]

She’s also possibly the first person to tell co-star Daniel Radcliffe that she hasn’t watched the Harry Potter films because she found them too scary. She was eight years old when she saw the first Harry Potter film and Geraldine was so terrified, she had to leave in the middle.

The actress, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, has subsequently given some more good performances in films like The Package, Cat Person, and The Beanie Bubble. She likes to work on projects that are ‘socially conscious’. Geraldine is always on lookout for acting opportunities that have a ‘fresh take’ on life and allow her to ‘explore different sides’ of herself.

The Viswanathans

Though Geraldine and her sister Indira have not travelled much to India, the actress is connected to the country through her Indian grandparents, who live in Australia. “My grandma is an incredible cook. She cooks biryani, and sambhar and chapati and poori – for me and my sister, that’s our favourite. South Indian food definitely feels homely to me,” she declared in an interview with Business Standard.

[caption id="attachment_23670" align="aligncenter" width="695"] Geraldine with her sister and parents[/caption]

The actress who is fondly called Yoyo by her loved ones, finds great support in her mom who always has some tips to give to her daughter in acting. Viswanathan home is never bereft of animals, they love their cats, and dogs as much as their horses.

Follow Geraldine Viswanathan on Instagram

Reading Time: 5 mins

To a tee: Indian origin golfer Sahith Theegala’s rise to stardom

(October 13, 2022) Every evening when he was a child, when it was time to leave his beloved golf course for the day, Sahith Theegala would burst into tears, begging begging to stay a little longer. He went on to win the Junior World Championships at the age of six. Now in his senior year at Pepperdine University, the Indian-origin golfer is already a star, winning four collegiate titles and the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2020. In that year, he also won the Haskins Award, the Ben Hogan Award and the Jack Nicklaus Award. He is the fifth player ever to win all the Player of the Year honours. In the American golf scene, dominated by whites, Sahith Theegala stands out, also because Indian-American sports stars don't come around too often. Theegala is an inspiration for more reasons than being a prodigy. The 24-year-old suffers from scoliosis, which is an abnormal curvature of the spine - one shoulder is visibly higher than the other. He works with his chiropractor and although it doesn't cause him pain, it does account for a "pretty big bend to the right," and an unorthodox swing. Despite this significant setback, the Global

right," and an unorthodox swing. Despite this significant setback, the Global Indian went on to become one of the best golfers at Pepperdine University and is loved for his infectious enthusiasm, both on and off the greens.

Born and raised in LA, the son of Karuna and Muralidhar Theegala, Sahith maintains a strong connection to his Indian roots. He lives at home with his parents, for one. In February 2022, when he lost out to Scottie Scheffler at the very last moment, he won more fans than he could have hoped when, according to Golf Digest, he teared up and sobbed on his mother's shoulder, as his dad stood by saying, "It's okay." Sahith's father, Muralidhar, moved to the US from Hyderabad in 1987, to attend graduate school and the family still goes back to India as often as they can.

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A post shared by Sahith Reddy Theegala (@srtheegala)

The Indian-American golfer's childhood was spent on municipal golf courses, which charge a modest $30 for a round. The courses aren't well-maintained but it was all his middle-class family could afford - and they were keen to nurture their son's talent. "My dad, even though he never plays golf, he's the one that taught me the game pretty much," he told PGATOUR.com.

"We weren't in the greatest financial situation when I was a kid and we had no experience with sports at all, so my father spearheaded the whole mission to college and professional golf... He put everything that he could into me." Despite their financial constraints, Theegala's parents spent their savings on buying him equipment, paying course fees, for a trainer, travel costs and the litany of expenses that came with his passion.

Determined not to let his scoliosis stand in his way, Theegala would spend days out on dusty golf courses, adapting "his putting stroke by tilting his head to the right so he could see the appropriate line from the gall to hole," according to the New York Times.

In 2015, Theegala graduated with honours from high school in California and had won a number of golf awards by that time. "I'd say I was a pretty good golfer," he said, in the interview with PGATOUR.com. He made it to Pepperdine University in California, which is ranked in the top 10 in men's golf among US universitites. "At Pepperdine, I went from average to slightly good to what I felt like was ready to be a decent professional golfer."

An emotional @SRTheegala is consoled by mom and dad after coming up 1 shot short of a playoff @WMPhoenixOpen.

The 24-year-old earned countless new fans this week. pic.twitter.com/tq5Q2YsFCy

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 13, 2022

His winning streak in 2019 came to an abrupt pause after a wrist injury. He bounced back, though, making his professional debut in June 2020, somewhat unconventionally. Theegala might not have imagined starting out with the Outlaw Tour but gave a stellar performance nonetheless. The pandemic dealt a heavy blow, when the Pepperdine campus closed and Theegala had to return home. Although that season ended prematurely, Sahith's team ranked first in the country.

His family is always in the stands as he plays, cheering him on. And his fan base is always growing. "I'm an introvert by nature," he told NYT. "You hear about the best performers in the world - singers and dancers - who are really big introverts. But it's different when you get on the stage. When I'm in the act of playing golf, I don't even think about people watching."

Theegala is, however, always aware of being an Indian American, of the fact that it means he is viewed differently by default. He's also playing a sport that has never really welcomed non-white players. "I'm definitely proud of my Indian heritage and I hope I'm inspiring other Indian Americans and people in India to know they can compete in sports," he says. "It's obviously not the main purpose of being out there but it's an ancillary effect of what we're doing and I'm all for it."

Follow Sahith Theegala on Instagram

Reading Time: 6 mins

Race queen: Athlete Jyothi Yarraji is on a winning streak

(February 7, 2023) A new year, and a new record for one of India's latest additions to the world athletics. 23-year-old sprinter and hurdler, Jyothi Yarraji has created yet another record - this time in the 60 m hurdles event. The young athlete has broken the national record once more and claimed the second position at the Elite Indoor Meeting Miramas 2023, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Bronze level meeting, in France. Jyothi clinched the silver medal, reaching the post at 8.17 seconds in the finals - losing to Cyprus athlete Dafni Georgiou by just 0.145 seconds. It was only last year in November that the Indian athlete established a new national record for 100 m hurdles at 11.51 seconds. Regarded as one of the rising stars of Indian athletics, Jyothi - despite the several setbacks she has faced - is currently the fastest women’s 100m hurdler in India. Going by her records, this young athlete has all the potential to be a superstar in track and field, and put Indian athletics on the world map. Global Indian takes a look at the glorious journey of this athlete who is winning despite the odds stacked against her. Fighting her way

potential to be a superstar in track and field, and put Indian athletics on the world map. Global Indian takes a look at the glorious journey of this athlete who is winning despite the odds stacked against her.

Fighting her way

Born in 1999 in Visakhapatnam, Jyothi grew up with limited resources. Her father, Suryanarayana, works as a private security guard while her mother, Kumari, is a domestic help who works part-time as a cleaner in a city hospital. Combined, they earn less than ₹18,000 per month. Jyothi, however, was destined for greater things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H0_5AQ08rI

The path was set during her school days when her physical education teacher saw the potential in her and encouraged her, due to her height, to become a hurdler. Since then, there has been no looking back for the girl who came into the spotlight after winning a gold medal at an Andhra Pradesh inter-district meet in 2015. Interestingly, fearing that her parents would deny her request to participate in the event, Jyothi didn’t inform them about it. It was only after she won the medal and people started flocking to their house that her parents got to know about their daughter's talent. This was the beginning of a career that saw her win various medals in junior and senior national meets.

After the athlete started winning state and inter-state level medals, she was hand-picked by James Hillier, a British coach, at the Odisha Athletics High-Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar in 2019. However, the journey was hardly rosy.

Rising despite setbacks

Hillier’s confidence in her talent did start reflecting in Jyothi's progress as well. In January 2020, the athlete clocked 13.03 seconds to win gold at the All-India Inter-University athletics meet in Moodabidri, Karnataka. Even though the mark was enough to hand her the Indian women’s 100m hurdles national record, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had failed to test her before the championship, making her feat ineligible for the official record books. While she wasn't very pleased with the situation, the young athlete didn't break down. "Every competition is important because it helps me run faster. To run good timing is a gradual build-up and my body needs to adjust and go with the flow. Every run gives me a lot of experience and helps with improving my speed consistently," she told answering a press question.

[caption id="attachment_27246" align="aligncenter" width="574"] Jyothi with her coach James Hillier[/caption]

Her fight didn't end just here. The same year, as the athlete was preparing to represent the country in her maiden international tour for the South Asian Youth Games, COVID stuck the world and all the competitions were called off. With other events like the Indoor Asiad and World University Games also called off in 2020, Jyothi had to wait for her international bow. Things took a bad turn after the athlete sustained a serious back injury, and took a while to return to the track and field.

"She had no confidence because she had injury problems,” James Hillier had told a media outlet during an interview, adding, "She was scared of hurdling at that time. In our first session, the single hurdle was at the lowest setting. She didn’t even want to go over that.”

A rising star

Almost missing the 2021 season, the athlete made her presence felt in 2022 - and how! Jyothi clocked a national-record-setting time of 13.09 seconds at the Federation Cup in Kozhikode but was yet again denied the official mark because it was a wind-assisted run. Refusing to bow down, she made her international debut at the Cyprus International athletics meet in Limassol in May 2022, finally pocketed the women’s 100m hurdles national record with a timing of 13.23 seconds, shattering the previous mark of 13.38 set by Anuradha Biswal way back in 2002. And this win was despite the athlete starting a fraction of a second later than the other participants.

“In India, they use a manual gun to start the race but in Europe, they use an electronic starter. I was not familiar with the sound it makes so I didn’t realise when the race had started. I only started running when I saw the other athletes start,” Jyothi shared during an interview. With a reaction time of 0.243 seconds, Jyothi was the slowest runner off the blocks at the meet by a big margin.

The athlete ended the 2022 season with a flurry as she won gold in the 100m hurdles at the National Games with a new personal best of 12.79s, which made her the first Indian woman to dip below the 13-second mark in her discipline. Unfortunately, however, this win too couldn't make it to the national record.

Olympics in her sights

"My next aim is to win a medal for India in the Olympics," the athlete said, after her most recent win in France, adding, "I aspire to get more young kids to take us athletics as their career. We have an abundance of talent in India and I hope I can help in inspiring youngsters to represent the nation on various international platforms."

Reading Time: 6 mins

Vedant Harlalka: The teen innovator making breakthroughs in 3D printing and IoT

(April 27, 2022) Turning a problem into an opportunity is what Mumbai-based Vedant Harlalka believes in. As an eighth-grader, Vedant thought 3D printers were expensive, and he created one that was economical. Not just this, during the pandemic, he ideated on an automatic hand-sanitiser dispenser. “Pushing the boundaries and moving beyond limits is what I truly believe in. At a time when my friends were watching YouTube videos, I was busy making them. Constant evolution is what keeps us moving forward in life,” Vedant says in an interview with Global Indian. A member of Model United Nations, the 15-year-old has engineering and IoT (internet of things) at the core of everything he does. “I began exploring it at the age of 11, and soon found myself immersed in the world of innovation,” adds the keynote speaker at Global Youth Education Summit. [caption id="attachment_15540" align="aligncenter" width="596"] Vedant Harlalka working on 3D printer prototype[/caption] A self-taught innovator Born in Singapore in 2006 to a stockbroker father and a CA mother (now a homemaker), Vedant moved to Mumbai with his family when he was a year-and-a-half as his parents wanted to raise him amongst extended family. Growing up in the era of technology,

t innovator

Born in Singapore in 2006 to a stockbroker father and a CA mother (now a homemaker), Vedant moved to Mumbai with his family when he was a year-and-a-half as his parents wanted to raise him amongst extended family. Growing up in the era of technology, he loved referring to YouTube reviews before buying a gadget. This stirred something in him. “I wanted to be confident in front of the camera,” says Vedant who started his own YouTube channel in grade IV. “I loved reviewing gadgets, and my channel helped me learn scripting, production, and post-production,” adds the innovator who continued this for two years before sinking his teeth into the world of Arduino.

"Reviewing gadgets made me inquisitive about their making. This curiosity led me to learn the basics of computer science through Harvard’s cs50 course on edX. It gave me an insight into a whole new world,” reveals Vedant who explains Arduino as a “printed circuit board which when attached to sensors and modules helps convert ideas into prototypes.”

Turning problems into opportunities

The teenager took a leap of faith into the world of innovation and when “opportunity struck” during Covid-19, he and two seniors created an automatic hand sanitiser dispenser. “Going to grocery stores, we saw that people had to tap the sanitiser bottles, which could potentially spread the virus,” says the St Mary's School student who made a fully functional prototype in 15 days. “We had made small innovations, but with Covid, I knew it was time to do something big. We wanted to give back to society,” adds the young innovator who despite having the first-mover advantage couldn’t turn it into a market-friendly product due to funding and supply chain issues. “The market was in motion, and with ₹15-₹20 lakh needed, the market was saturated with automatic sanitisers in some time,” adds Vedant who refocused on making a cost-efficient 3D printer.

In late 2019, while working on a project with his classmate Ukshaan, he realised the need for a 3D printer for a prototype. But with a decent one costing ₹20,000, these then eighth graders decided to make one under $100. “We realised the potential of making one with recycled electronic scraps like DVD and CD drives instead of the traditional Nema 17 stepper motors, thus cutting down the cost,” explains the Class 10 student who took two years to make the prototype. He is now working on making it a "consumer-friendly product" before patenting it and launching it commercially. "We thought we would finish it in a day, but it took us two years. But those years taught us so much. We learnt through trial and error, and it instilled confidence in us," adds the TEDx speaker for whom it was an uphill task.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFxSNjaNWo8

Overcoming the challenges

With 3D printing still in its nascent stage, the teenager had “few resources”" and had to figure out his way. Vedant also calls the “lack of a mentor” one of the hurdles, initially, however, it turned out to be a learning curve that saw him fit the role of innovator and entrepreneur.

For him, age has always been a double-edged sword. If his innovations have been scoffed at for being a “high school project,” it has at times also added a sense of wonder. “Those who have been supportive of skill and talent, ignore my age,” says Vedant who is gearing up for his board exams.

The young innovator is also the project head at Neuralix, an open-source community with the motive of making the brain-machine interface more accessible to students and tinkerers. “We have developed an open-source development board that can be used to interface machine with the brain. Using the board, you can build a lot of projects with bio-signals,” says the teen innovator who plans to pursue electrical and electronics engineering at IIT Delhi. “I think engineering and IoT will always be at the core of whatever I do,” says the boy who wants to launch a startup in EEE soon.

His parents are the wind beneath his wings. “They have been super supportive. I am thankful that my dad once yelled at me for spending hours playing PubG. That motivated me to use my time on the internet wisely, and led me to learn to code and even mentor students,” says Vedant, adding, “When I was 11-12, I didn’t have any mentor, and was lost. But now with a few years of experience, I want to help youngsters by giving them direction. For me, giving back holds an important place.”

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Vedant wants youngsters to “look beyond boundaries,” and “take the first step, and the rest will follow. Don’t limit yourself.” The teenager wants to break the misconception of innovators being “nerds.” “I love cycling for 20 km-30 km every day, and am a part of Sobo Riders. I also love walks and swims,” says Vedant who calls hanging out with friends a perfect destressor.

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