Meeting Anna Prakash
Last week I had the honor of meeting Anna Prakash at FLL training session to volunteers at the Hillsboro Boys and Girls club. To me, meeting her was inspirational in many ways. The most important reason was that she seemed to have done something that I thought would be very difficult, if not impossible. She has been able to bring FIRST Robotics and FLL programs to Title 1 school’s and Boys & Girls clubs in a sustainable, scalable model.
The Challenge
Having coached FIRST robotics teams on and off for the past ten plus years, I was very sceptical when FIRST announced several years ago, an initiative to promote robotics in Boys and Girls clubs. The challenge in my mind is the resources, committed mentors and time investment needed to make such programs successful.
The teams that I coached both in FLL and FTC seemed to have all the resources needed in terms of funding, and time commitment by the teams and the mentors. To me, this was a big part of the success of these teams. And the big question was whether teams could be successful when the resources are constrained. And Anna seems to have found the answer to combine the right set of resources in the community in terms of corporate sponsorship, and volunteers committed to the broader cause of empowering kids.
Education Empowers
Education Empowers non-profit that Anna and her daughter co-founded, has implemented their program at over forty Title 1 school’s and Boys and Girls Clubs. The model is amazingly simple. Find volunteers who are passionate. After that, train them with a set of basic STEM activities and exercises that inspire the kids. In most cases, these are kids who have not been exposed to Robotics or these STEM resources. And then, use the corporate matching programs to make the program self sustaining.
Connecting engineering role models and exposing the kids to different engineering problem solving methods. How can we make things better so the world can be a better place.
Anna Prakash
The volunteers in most cases are from technology companies like Intel, Microsoft and others, who have volunteer matching programs. For example, at Intel for every hour that any employee spends volunteering with a non-profit, Intel will donate ten dollars/hour to that non-profit. Many other companies have similar programs. And when volunteers from these companies start coaching teams over a robotics season, these dollars can add up to form a sustainable source of financing for such programs.
Reach and Impact
The challenges with taking these programs to Boys and Girls Clubs is not trivial. Even if you have the resources from the volunteers and funding to sustain it, you face other issues. One challenge is to get kids engaged in these programs at a regular time, against all their other competing priorities.
That said, the Education Empowers program seems to have significant impact. Their program has reached to forty schools and Boys & Girls clubs in Arizona. They have formed teams at these clubs that have competed, qualified and even won awards like “Best Research Project” at State Championships. Above all, they are exposing the kids to problem solving techniques, connecting them to engineering & corporate mentors, and role models. These programs allow them to explore their passions in new ways.
An Inspiration to Others
“My mom is a role model for me, and she’s kinda my own Super Hero”
Elaina Ashton, Co-founder, Education Empowers, (Anna’s daugher)
Anna inspires many other volunteers at Intel. She continues to spread her program out to other sites at Intel. And now many other companies are reaching out to her to see how they can replicate the program.
“Education Empowers is a community of volunteers. Our goal is to change the landscape of STEM education and bring hands-on STEM activities to kids who are so deserving and so eager to have acess to these technologies.”
“If you have a passion, you will find the ways and means to do it.”
Anna, Founder, Education Empowers
Companies support of these kinds or programs by providing grants and volunteer match dollars is critical to sustaining these programs. Intel offers support in multiple ways to employees who drive such programs within their community. For every volunteer hour by the employee, Intel matches it with dollars for the cause. In addition there are seed grants, matching donation grants and other ways that Intel supports community outreach.
While many other companies also have similar programs, this is one of the many reasons that I’m proud to work for a company like Intel. I’m excited about joining Anna in this journey and her goal to spread the program in Oregon.
