The initiative was led by Rakhi Grover, Youth Director of Ekal NH. A passionate advocate for STEM learning, Rakhi helped establish Team Sea Serpents, a FIRST LEGO League team, with guidance from Team Phoenix, an FRC team. Over the past two years, the team has grown tremendously, developing technical skills, teamwork, problem-solving abilities, and leadership among its members.

Inspired by Ekal's mission and encouraged by Manisha Jain, Executive Director of Ekal USA, Parveen Minocha, New England Regional President, and Aarti Khurana, President of Ekal NH, Rakhi envisioned an opportunity for the students to give back through a meaningful community outreach program.

Aaditya Grover, Captain of Team Sea Serpents and an Ekal youth volunteer, embraced the idea and worked with fellow youth leaders to design an engaging, hands-on workshop for younger students. The team took ownership of planning the event, organizing equipment, preparing lesson plans, and coordinating activities.

The workshop was led by youth volunteers Aaditya Grover, Ganak Gopinath, Jayred Rivera, Abhinav Nandakumar, Shreekar Saravanan, Lucas Menezes, and Atul Arora. Through interactive robotics activities, they introduced participants to engineering concepts, teamwork, and creative problem-solving while demonstrating confidence, collaboration, and a spirit of service.

More than a STEM event, the workshop reflected Ekal's core belief that education empowers individuals to create positive change. Just as Ekal works to transform lives through education, healthcare awareness, skill development, and village empowerment in India, this initiative empowered local youth to lead, teach, and serve their community.

The Ekal NH Chapter extends its gratitude to Aarti Khurana for her leadership and support, to Manisha Jain and Parveen Minocha for their encouragement and guidance, to Archana Dubey for generously providing the venue, and to the First Tech Challenge Team Kube coaches Gopi Govindarajan, Sudha Gopinath and Ekal Supporter Vipul Grover for their tremendous assistance in setting up the workshop, to Team Phoenix and FIRST NH for providing workshop materials. Special thanks also go to the parents, mentors, coaches, volunteers, and supporters who helped make the event a success.

As Ekal NH's first youth-led initiative, the robotics workshop demonstrated the power of combining education with service. It showcased how young leaders can use their talents to inspire others while advancing Ekal's vision of empowering communities through learning and opportunity. To learn more about Ekal, visit www.ekal.org. For volunteering and youth leadership opportunities with Ekal NH, connect with Aarti at nh.chapter@ekal.org, and Rakhi at ekalyouth.nh@ekal.org.