New immigrants and underprivileged students are not always given the opportunity to participate in advanced engineering, robotics, science, and math classes. With Helping Hands, we work to change that, create these opportunities for everybody. All of our classes are free, and a lot of the students we work with are first-generation new immigrants. You see these students discover themselves and discover that they love science. We have lots of exceptional volunteers, including some who are going to elite colleges to study mathematics or engineering, and they can be really life-changing role models.
An important step for our organization was when I reached out to the mayor and city officials to offer our curriculum at their summer day camp. That’s how we’ve been able to scale our impact to over 1,200 students. One of the programs we do that’s really special is teaching the kids about 3D printing to make free prosthetic hands that we donate to people in need. I’m just so happy to see the impact that we can make with a passion for science and engineering.